After It All
by AwakeAndAliveSpartan
Summary: After the final battle, lives have been changed. How will everything affect the team after arriving at the Playground? No one came out of that battle the same. Coulson's new task. Fitz's injury. Skye's parents. Ward. What about all of that? (VERY BAD SUMMARY, BUT STORY IS GOOD. SPOILERS FOR SEASON ONE.)
1. Chapter 1 (A New Beginning)

**Chapter One (A New Beginning)**

Coulson, Skye, May, and Triplett watched as Simmons came out of Fitz's medical room in the SHIELD base Playground.

"How is he?" Skye asked, longing for an answer.

"He's still sleeping." Simmons responded. "But according to the doctors he will wake up soon. That's when they see if any brain damage from the oxygen deprivation has occurred. They don't want to mess with him a lot now."

Fury had Fitz transferred to the Playground so the team could be closer to him and had the doctors follow him. They didn't know yet what the extent of his injuries due to the fact that he had been asleep for awhile.

"Good." Coulson replied. "We don't need anything to happen to him, we'll need him." He thought back to what had happened between him and Fury. "We'll really need him."

"I know I sound stupid for asking," Skye said. "Are you planning something? It seems like you're planning something big because you keep saying that we need everybody we can and so on and so forth."

Coulson sighed and looked briefly at May, "I should probably tell you guys this since you will be involved. I had a talk with Fury after we got back on the Bus. He gave me a job."

"What kind of job?" Triplett asked.

"He, um, wants me to rebuild SHIELD."

"What?" Simmons asked, dumbfounded. "He did? How are you going to do that?"

"I don't know." Coulson replied. "It's a big job, rebuilding an entire organization from the ground up. And there's even more. I'm to be the Director."

"What?!" Skye exclaimed. "That's amazing! Director Coulson!"

"I guess. But it will be a long road to rebuild SHIELD. I just have to figure out how."

"You know that we will be behind you, right?" Triplett asked. "Cause we will no matter what you say."

"I know that." Coulson replied. "And I will need all the help that we can get."

The five agents looked at each other until a low, voice croaked through the silence, "Jemma? Jemma, are you there?"

Fitz was awake.

"Fitz?" Simmons went running into Fitz's room followed by the others.

Fitz was sitting up in his bed, weakly smiling at them, "Where am I?" he asked. "And is there any food around? I'm starving."

He sounded like the same old Fitz, but they weren't quite sure what to think quite yet.

* * *

Two prison guards led Ward into a small jail cell and went out and locked the door behind him. He looked around slowly and then proceeded to sit down on the small, gray bed.

He had been taken to a federal penitentiary soon after soldiers had taken him into custody after the showdown at Cybertek. Charged with being a terrorist against the American government, murder, and some other various crimes. He had no clue how long he was going to be in here, he thought that he would probably never even get out.

He looked down at the pale, gray jumpsuit he was wearing. He knew that he deserved this. For years he was blindly following a narcissistic maniac, doing whatever he was told to do.

There was no one for him to follow now. No one to give him orders, except for the prison guards watching his every more. He never wanted it to be like this. He just wished that there was some way to make it all right again. He wished for the times when the team was actually friend with him, and he wasn't trying to hurt them.

* * *

Coulson talked with the doctor in charge of Fitz while May, Skye, Simmons, and Triplett talked with Fitz. "Will he be okay?" he asked.

"After while we're going to check for possible brain damage that we couldn't check for while he was asleep." The doctor replied. "We're expecting it to go either way since his brain was without oxygen for a good amount of time. His arm is fine, it will heal. It's his brain and his mental functions we have to worry about."

Coulson talked a little longer with the doctor before returning to Fitz's room.

"So, where are we anyway?" Fitz asked.

"A secret SHIELD base called the Playground." Coulson replied.

"The Playground? That's a strange name for a base." Fitz stated.

"That's what it is." Skye said.

"And when am I going to get my food?" Fitz asked. "I'm starving."

"You'll get it." May said.

Skye and Triplett got up, "We'll go find something." Triplett said as they went out of the room.

As the three agents continued talking with Fitz, Coulson felt that something was wrong. He thought that Fitz wasn't quite acting right. He seemed a little off. Could something have really happened to his brain? Had the engineer's life been changed?

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. New story! This story is gonna mainly follow Coulson, Fitz, Skye, and Ward after the events of 1x22. I hope this goes well and that y'all will enjoy this. Keep reading and PLEASE REVIEW! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	2. Chapter 2 (Think About It)

**Chapter Two (Think About It)**

* * *

_**Thanks for all of the support just for the first chapter! I'm really amazed at all of the response so far!**_

* * *

It had been a few days since Fitz had woken up. He had been up and walking around, but was being monitored by the doctors for any signs of brain damage.

He seemed to be fine at first glance, but a further look revealed that something wasn't quite right with the young engineer. It wasn't until the head doctor had pulled Coulson aside that they actually knew something.

"Is everything alright with Fitz?" Coulson asked. "Is he ok?"

"He seems to be fine." the doctor replied. "But after running several different tests on him, we've come to find that he has a slight bit of brain damage."

"Really?" Coulson asked, his heart skipping a beat.

"Yes, but it isn't that much to worry about. He won't lose all mental function. But he may think a little bit slower now and he may have some problems with his short-term memory from what we have seen. But as far as we can tell, that is the extent of his injury. You'll have to watch him to make sure that it doesn't get worse, but I don't think that it will."

Coulson thanked the doctor for all of his help and went to find the rest of the team to tell them what the doctor had told him.

He found them in a lounge room watching TV. May sat in a chair opposite to Triplett while Fitzsimmons sat on a couch with Skye.

"Coulson, what's the matter?" May asked, seeing the concern on his face. But she knew that it was something about Fitz. "Fitz, can you go find us some popcorn?" she asked, trying to send him somewhere else for the time being.

Fitz looked up, "Sure." He got up from the couch and disappeared down the hallway.

"Why did you send Fitz out?" Simmons asked.

Coulson sighed, "The doctor updated me on Fitz's brain condition." he said.

"Is everything ok?" Triplett asked.

"The doctor seems to think that Fitz has some brain damage."

"Really?" Skye asked.

"Yes."

"What will be the side effects of it?" Simmons asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"Fitz may be a little slower with his thinking processes now and he may have some problems with short term memory. But the doctor thinks that is the extent of it and it won't get worse than that."

"But how are we going to tell him?" May asked.

"I can find a way to tell him." Simmons responded. "He'll take it better from me."

"Good. Because I think that he's coming back." Coulson said as Fitz walked in with a giant bowl of freshly popped popcorn.  
"I found some!" he exclaimed with a big smile on his face.  
"Some?" Triplett asked. "More like you took the whole supply of it, didn't you?"

"I got enough for all of us."

Coulson smiled, seeing that Fitz would probably be ok despite a few setbacks. He turned to go work on some things for his task of rebuilding SHIELD. But as he walked out into the hallway, Skye stopped him.

"What is it, Skye?" Coulson asked.

"I, ah, have been thinking for the past couple of days." she responed.

"About what?"

"I've been thinking." she paused and took a breath. "I want to go talk to Ward."

"What?!" Coulson exclaimed. "Why would you want to do that? He was _**against **_us, Skye. He tried to kill Fitzsimmons. He lied to us the entire time that we knew him. And he's locked up in jail. Why would you want to go talk to him now?"

Skye shuffled her feet, trying to find an explanation for exactly why she wanted to talk to Ward that Coulson would actually accept. "Something doesn't seem right." she said after a while. "I just want to talk to him, get a few more things out of him. See if I can figure out why he really blindly followed Garrett's ass like that."

Coulson sighed and rested his gaze firmly on Skye, "Skye, I see what you are wanting to do. But I don't think that it is the best thing to do right now. He's not right."

"But don't you want to know exactly why he did all of that stuff to us?" Skye asked.

Coulson took a deep breath, "Ok," he said after a while. "You can go see him tomorrow, but I'm going with you. I'll let you do the talking, mostly because he'll get on my damn nerves if I try to talk to him. But no funny business, strictly in and out to get some more information out of him. Do you hear me?"

Skye nodded.

"Good, because I don't want anything bad to happen to us again."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Fitz's diagnosis is revealed and Skye tells Coulson that she wants to go talk to Ward. This will go well, right? Right? Probably not. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	3. Chapter 3 (Talk To Me)

**Chapter Three (Talk To Me)**

Ward was sitting motionlessly on the pale, gray bed staring off into space as one of the jail's guards opened the door and looked at him.

"You have some visitors." he said. "Come with me."

Ward looked at the guard with confusion. Why would he of all people be getting visitors? But he got up anyway and followed the guard.

As they came towards the visitation area, Ward saw two people that he thought that we would never see again talking to another guard.

"He may not talk that much." the guard said. "His larynx is still healing since we found that it was fractured and it troubles him to talk. Even if he tries to, his voice is raspy and low."

The two people with the guard nodded in reply and the guard led them to the table where Ward was being sat down at.

"Ward." Coulson said when their eyes met. Ward didn't respond.

"Grant," Skye said softly. "You have to talk to us."

"Maybe I don't want to." Ward muttered, his voice raspy and dry.

Coulson looked to Skye, "I'll leave you to talk with him." He got up and went elsewhere accompanied by a guard.

Skye looked back to Ward, "Why did you do it?" she asked firmly.

"Why did I do what?" he asked back in a low voice.

"Don't do that to me. You know what you did." Skye stated. "I just wanna know why you did it. Why did you blindly follow that narricistic bastard like that? You tried to kill us. You tried to kill Fitzsimmons."

Ward didn't respond.

"And now Fitz isn't right because of you."

Ward blinked, "What?"

"Your little attempt to kill him left him with brain damage." Skye replied.

Ward's eyes widened slightly, "No, I wasn't. I wasn't trying to kill them." He shook his head.

"What?!" Skye exclaimed. "You weren't trying to kill them?! You ejected them out of a plane! That's not trying to kill them?!"

"I didn't want to shoot them, that's what Garrett wanted me to do." Ward muttered. "If I had of let them go, Garrett would've shot and killed them. That's the only way I could think of that would've saved them."

"And you couldn't think of a better way?" Skye asked, not believing what Ward had just said.

Ward didn't respond.

"Why did you follow Garrett's every order?"

"I thought that I owed everything to him."

"And why did you? You know what, I don't even want to hear it. There's no excuse for following a psychopathic bastard like that." Skye said. "Did you even think about what your actions could cause? You were a complete monster those last couple of weeks. I glad May was able to stop you, because there's no telling what you could've done to us."

"I didn't,"

"Of course you didn't." Skye's lip quivered. "You didn't think about what could happen to us. We all trusted you and then you hurt us all. Hell, Fitz will never be quite right again because of you and he thought you to be one of his best friends."

Ward swallowed and looked to the side.

"And you know what?" Skye leaned slightly forward. "I did love you." she stated coldly. "But now I don't because I see that you were just a lying, heartless bastard who only thought of himself. I don't even know why I fell in love with you."

An uneasy feeling grew in Ward's stomach. He'd never really thought about what he had done. Yes, he did feel bad about it, but now he felt completely horrible. Skye's words took a toll on his mind. He was just so blind in his actions that he had never thought what they could cause in return.

He thought that he had owed everything to Garrett ever since he had pulled him out of prison and what he thought was hell. But Garrett had just pulled Ward into an even bigger hell than he was in.

Raina's words to him from a few weeks ago sank in, '_Are you really just the monster that Garrett made you to be? Maybe you and Skye can go be monsters together.'_ That's what he was, a monster.

"I'm sorry." he muttered, voice cracking.

"No you're not!" Skye exclaimed. "You're not sorry! You were a complete maniac, not the man that we knew. Think about it Ward." Skye said, getting up. "Who are you really? Cause I just see you as a monster."

"I don't know." Ward replied. "But I know something about you."

"What?"

"Raina told me what she thought you were. She said that your parents were monsters, they were the ones that destroyed that Chinese village."

Skye froze, "What? How would she know that?" she asked.

"I don't know. I think she knows a lot more than what she said. She also called you a monster and said that there was darkness inside of you. What does that mean?" Ward responded, voice still raspy.

Skye didn't say another word, she only ran off from the room.

Ward stayed frozen in place until a guard came and took him back to his cell. Why did he tell Skye that? He didn't even really know what Raina meant by that. Who was Skye? Hell, he didn't even know who he was to begin with.

* * *

As Coulson and Skye returned back to the Playground, Coulson noticed that something was wrong with Skye.

"Skye, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." Skye muttered. "I'm fine."

"What did Ward say?"

"It's too much to talk about now." she replied. "I'll tell you when we get to the Playground."

Coulson nodded and left Skye alone.

Skye didn't know what Ward meant and was now scared. Her parents were _monsters?_ She, herself, was a monster? Forever, she had longed to find out who her parents were. But now, did she even really want to find out? What did Raina know about her?

"We'll be there shortly." Coulson called.

What the hell was even going on nowadays?

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Don't really know what to say about this chapter other than Skye and Ward talk. That's it. Yes, that's it. And what about the next chapter? I don't know. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and _**PLEASE** _review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	4. Chapter 4 (Wait, What?)

**Chapter Four (Wait, What?)**

"Where were you two?" May asked Skye and Coulson as soon as they got back into the common room of the Playground.

Skye looked to Coulson and then back to May, "We were, uh, visiting someone." she replied. She didn't want to say Ward's name because May would probably get really mad at them for going to see him.

May sighed, "Would this someone be Ward?" she asked. "Would it?"

"Yes," Coulson replied. "Skye wanted to ask Ward a couple of questions so I took her to the prison."

"What did you ask him?"

"I wanted to know why he did what he did." Skye replied. "But he never gave a straight answer. He actually said he was sorry, but I don't think that he actually meant it."

"Of course he didn't." May stated. "Why would he be sorry for all those things? He tried to kill Fitzsimmons, he tried to kidnap you, and there's no telling how many SHIELD agents he killed in cold blood. There's no remorse in that."

Skye took a deep breath, "He also said that Raina knew something about my parents because she told him."

Both May and Coulson narrowed their eyes, "Wait, what?" Coulson asked. "What does Raina know?"

"He said that Raina said that 'the monsters that destroyed that Chinese village were the baby's parents.' and that 'I was a monster and there is darkness inside of me.'"

"How would Raina know anything?" May asked. "How would she know something like that?"

"That's what I would like to know!" Skye exclaimed. "I'm not a monster! I'm not some devil-spawn! And why would she tell Ward?!"

"What about Ward?"

The three agents turned to see Fitzsimmons and Triplett coming into the common room.

"Uh, nothing." Skye quickly said.

Fitz looked around, "Where is Ward anyway?" he asked. "I haven't seen him in a while."

Everybody else exchanged worried glances with each other.

"Uh, Fitz, he's in jail." Coulson said.

A dumbfounded look filled the young engineer's face, "Wait, what?" he asked. "Why would Ward be in jail? What the hell did he do?"

More worried glances.

"Fitz," Simmons began. "What do you remember about Ward?" she asked.

Fitz crinkled his nose, "Uh, I remember him taking Garrett to the Fridge. Then, I don't know. Then he was gone. Why is he in jail anyway?"

Skye looked to Coulson and then to Simmons, who both had extremely worried looks on their faces, "Fitz, you don't remember anything about Ward from the past couple of weeks?"

"No, why should I?"

Skye looked at Coulson with a 'do we tell him?' look on her face. Coulson shook his head no.

Coulson looked at Triplett, signaling for him to take Fitz elsewhere.

Triplett put a hand on Fitz's shoulder, "C'mon! Let's go finish that show on monkeys that you were watching!"

"But I want to know why Ward is in jail!" But Triplett had already drug Fitz out of the room.

Simmons looked at Skye, Coulson, and May, "He's forgot about Ward being Hydra."

"Damn, this is bad. This is really, really bad." Coulson cussed. "How the hell do we break it to him again?"

"Is it a good idea?" Skye asked.

"I don't know." Simmons replied. "I don't know if stress like that could worsen his mental condition or what. I should know, but I don't. I didn't think that he actually had lost any of his memories. It's probably not the best thing right now to tell him."

"Then how do we hide the fact that Ward is in jail due to being Hydra?" May asked. "That's kind of hard to hide, isn't it?"

Coulson ran his hands through his hair, "Great, another thing I have to deal with along with trying to restart SHIELD and I don't even know to begin with that."

"How many things can pop up?" Skye asked. "Coulson has to rebuild SHIELD, Ward is in jail, my parents are apparently monsters, and Fitz has amnesia." She took a breath, "And none of this is ok, except Coulson having to rebuild SHIELD. Where the hell do we even go with this now?"

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Sorry for the wait, my Internet has been down since yesterday and my dad just got it working for the time being. Surprise! Fitz has forgotten all about Ward being Hydra! Where does the team go after this has been added to their problems? Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE review! (Ideas for this story in the reviews are greatly appreciated, I need some more ideas to keep this story going.) ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	5. Chapter 5 (Do We Tell Him?)

**Chapter Five (Do We Tell Him?)**

After a long while of silence Skye turned to Coulson, Do we tell him?" she asked.

"What?"

"Do we retell Fitz about Ward being Hydra? Or do we just keep it as a secret? Either way it's gonna come out eventually."

Simmons joined in, "I really don't know if we should tell him or not." she said. "I'm not sure if a shock like that could further worsen his mental condition or not. If we tell him, we better keep it nice and simple."

"How is something like that simple?" May asked. "We have Triplett keeping Fitz entertained right now so we can have this conversation. How do we keep something like that simple?"

Coulson sighed and turned to Simmons, "Simmons, you tell him." he said. "He may take it better if it comes from you. He trusts you the most."

After a few seconds Simmons replied, "I suppose I can. I just don't know how to say that Ward is Hydra to him. Remember last time?" she asked. "He had a massive breakdown after we found out that Ward was Hydra and had killed Koenig, well Eric Koenig in that case."

Skye smiled, "I'm sure that you can do it, Jemma. Just talk to him, and make sure that he doesn't destroy something in the process. Meanwhile, I

want to talk to Ward again."

"What?" Coulson asked. "Why?"

"I think that there's something that he's not telling me." Skye replied. "He seemed too wary with the information he gave me."

"So you want to see if he knows anything else about you?" May asked.

"Yes."

Coulson sighed, "Alright. May, you go with Skye this time. Maybe since you are there Ward may talk, I don't know. Simmons, you break the news to Fitz the best way you can."

* * *

Simmons walked into the room where Fitz and Triplett were watching TV. Triplett seemed to know what Simmons was going to do, so he got up to go out of the room.

"Let me know if you need me." he whispered as he passed Simmons.

Simmons went over and sat down by Fitz on the couch, turning the TV off.

"Hey! I was watching that!" Fitz exclaimed.

"Fitz," Simmons said. "What do you remember from before the hospital?" she asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"Fitz, what do you remember?"

"I, uh, I think we were trapped underwater or something. We were trying to get out, you screamed and everything went black. That's all I know."

"How did we get underwater?"

"Hydra ejected us from the plane, I think. Is that who it was?" Fitz asked.

Simmons took a breath before deciding how to go on, "Leo, that wasn't just Hydra, it was someone we knew."

Fitz's face turned to confusion, "What?" he asked. "Someone we knew? I don't think that it was."

"Leo, it was Ward. Ward was the one that ejected us out of the plane."

Fitz bolted to his feet, "What?!" he exclaimed. "Why the bloody hell would he do that?!"

"Ward is, or was, Hydra. That's why he was in jail." Simmons replied. "He killed Hand, he killed Koenig, he broke prisoners out of the Fridge, he broke Raina out of jail. He tried to kidnap Skye. Fitz, he tried to kill us."

Fitz's eyes filled with sheer terror and disbelief, "No, he can't be! Ward's our friend! He can't be Hydra! HE JUST CAN'T BE!" he screamed.

"He _**was **_our friend!" Simmons exclaimed. "But he was Hydra all along. You knew, but your memory of that was just lost! He's not our friend!"

"Then what was he then?!" Fitz demanded. "Who was the guy that jumped out of the plane to save you?! You was the guy that was always there?! Just don't tell me that all of that was one big damn lie!" He hurled a pillow across the room, breaking a vase into hundreds of pieces.

"Please tell me that you are just lying to me! There's no way that Ward is Hydra, there's no damn way!"

"Leo, he is!" Simmons placed a hand on Fitz shoulder, trying to calm him down.

He shoved her hand off of his shoulder, "Don't try to calm me down or anything." he mumbled, then stalking off deeper into the Playground.

Simmons stared off towards the room's door. Why was Fitz acting more hostile than the last time? Yes, last time he did have a violent outburst. But he didn't scream at Simmons like that. He wouldn't scream at her like that. The last time that we had gotten angry with her was when tensions were high when she was dying from the Chituari virus.

Why would he take his anger out on her? Did the stress of everything take a toll on his mind, or was there further physical damage that couldn't be erased?

Psychological scars could heal when given time, but physical scars could never be erased. Did Ward fully understand the toll his actions had taken on the team? What would he think if he saw Fitz like this? What would anybody think?

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Skye wants to see Ward again to ask him a few more questions. Simmons tells Fitz again about Ward and he completely loses it, way more than last time. What is even going on anymore? Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE review! And ideas for the storyline in the reviews are greatly appreciated, they help a lot! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	6. Chapter 6 (Don't Come to Me Again)

**Chapter Six (Don't Come to Me Again)**

Skye and May walked back into the visitors section of the prison and asked for Ward. They were taken to the visitation area to wait for Ward. A few minutes later, Ward was marched in, all color draining from his face when he saw his visitors.

"What the hell do you want this time?" Ward growled, his voice better than it was last time. "I have nothing else to tell you. I've already said that I'm sorry, now leave me the hell alone."

May shot Ward an icy stare that leveled him off.

Skye turned to look at May, "May, don't worry, I've got this."

"Are you sure?" May asked.

"Yes."

May gave the two one last hesitant glance before walking to the other side of the room, keeping her eyes on them.

"Grant, what does Raina know about me?" Skye asked, turning back to Ward.

His face darkened, "So it's about this again, isn't it?" he asked. "I've already told you what she told me. And she told me very little about it. I told you what I knew because I thought it might help you find out about your parents. I didn't expect for you to come back about it."

"You wanted to help me after everything that you have done?" Skye asked with a tinge of hatred in her voice. "You really did?"

Ward clenched his jaw in anger, "Yes, I did. After all of that, I still care for you. Even after you practically told me that you hate me, I still care for you."

"That's bull!" Skye exclaimed. "And I do hate you. How could you care for me? You tried to hurt me. You tried to kidnap me!"

"I was following orders!"

"The orders of a complete madman!"

"I didn't want Garrett to be the one coming after you, he would try to kill you! That's why I ejected Fitzsimmons into the ocean, because that was the only thing that I could think of that could possibly save them! If I had of let them go, Garrett would've of murdered them, possibly very brutally."

"It's all about Garrett again!" Skye exclaimed.

"Does it really matter?!"  
"Yes! It does! You followed that maniac for far too long, and he got in your head! He was using you and you let him do it! Who are you without that bastard?!"

Ward's heart froze, there was that question again. '_Who are you without him?' _Coulson had asked him that as the soldiers were taking him away. But what was the answer?  
May suddenly came over, "Skye, we have to go." she said.

"What's the problem?" Skye asked, not taking her eyes off of Ward.

"There's a little problem at the Playground." May replied, not saying anything else.

Skye got up, "Are you just the monster that everyone calls you?"

Ward's lip twitched, "Stop calling me that!" he roared. "And how about you don't come here again! I don't want to see you!"

Skye turned and went off with May as the guards took Ward back to his cell.

"What's the problem?" Skye asked, trying to take her mind off of Ward.

"Simmons told Fitz again about Ward." May said. "And he lost it and disappeared somewhere inside the Playground and they can't find him."

"Really?"

"That's what Coulson is saying."

"So it's worse than last time."

"Don't know that."

"Then we better get back there quick, because this is Fitz we are talking about."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Sorry, short chapter this time. I'm kind of in a hurry, so yeah. Skye talks to Ward with no success and now Fitz is nowhere to be found. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and please review! And ideas are greatly appreciated! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	7. Chapter 7 (Take It All Away)

**Chapter Seven (Take It All Away)**

May and Skye got back to the Playground and were met by Coulson and Triplett.

"Simmons is off trying to find him." Coulson said. "According to her, once he was told he stormed off somewhere into the building. That's been over an hour ago. We still don't know where he is."

"Where have you looked?" May asked.

"Just about everywhere." Triplett replied. "We've just about run out of places to look."

Coulson sighed, "Just split up," he said. "Hopefully with two more people we can cover more ground."

"Is Koenig helping?" May asked.

"We haven't seen him." Coulson said.

"Of course." May went off elsewhere to try and find Fitz.

Coulson looked at Skye, "How did it go with Ward?" he asked.

She shook her head, "Not so great. He was more irritable this time and I couldn't get much out of him other than that Raina told him barely anything."

Coulson took a breath, "We can work on that, even possibly try and find Raina once we straighten everything out with Fitz."

"I'll try this way." Skye said, pointing down a hallway. "I don't know where to look though."

* * *

"Fitz!" Simmons called. "Fitz! Leo! Leo!"

Simmons walked endlessly down the hallways of the Playground trying to find the engineer. She had looked since he had run off and she hadn't had any luck so far.

"Fitz!"

"Simmons!"

She looked up in hope, but it quickly died down a bit when she saw that it was Skye headed towards her.

"Skye? I didn't know that you were back." Simmons said.

"Coulson wanted me and May back to help find Fitz." Skye said. "Where have you looked so far?"

"All up and down this hallway." Simmons replied. "I just don't know where he has run off to. I shouldn't have told him just yet. I didn't know that he would react like that. I know there was the first time, but this time he snapped at me."

"He snapped at you?" Skye asked, shocked. "He would never do that."

"I know. Either his mental condition has his emotions messed up and he's just taking this news way worse than he did the first time. He would just never snap at me."

Skye placed a hand on Simmons' shoulder, "We'll find him. Let's just keep looking."

The two continued down the hallway until Skye stopped.

"Do you hear that?" she asked.

Simmons cocked her head, "What is it?"

"It sounds like, _**crying**_." Skye said. She pointed to a closet door, "And it's coming from in there."

Simmons went over and opened the door and looked in, "Fitz?" she called. "Are you in there?"

"Go away." mumbled a snotty, sniveling voice weak with grief. "I want to be alone."

Simmons looked back at Skye, "It's him, he's in here."

The two, ignoring Fitz, went on in any way. They found Fitz up in a corner, knees drawn up to his chest and eyes tinged with red.

"Go away." he mumbled again.

Skye and Simmons proceeded to sit down on either side of Fitz.

"Fitz, are you ok?" Simmons asked.

"No. Why should I be?" he asked, drawing his knees closer to him. "We all trusted him, and then I find out that he's Hydra and he tried to kill us. How else am I supposed to react?"

"You know this happened before." Skye said.

"What?"

"The, uh, first time you found out, you went completely ballistic for a couple of seconds."

"I did?"

Simmons placed a caring hand on his knee, "Yes. The extent of your brain injury caused you to forget all of that. I'm sorry that I had to tell you again. We just didn't want to make up a reason to why Ward was in jail."

Fitz wiped his eyes, "It's ok." he said in a shaky voice. "I just wish the memory could be taken away again. He was one of my friends, now he's Hydra. Why can't it all just be taken away?"

"Leo, it's normal to act like this. You're in grief, just let it pass. None of us still can't believe everything that happened." Simmons said, assuming that Fitz was about in the depression stage of grief.

"But you'll be fine." Skye added in.

"Will I really be fine, ever?" Fitz asked.

"Yes, you will." Simmons said. "Just don't go running off again, you about gave all of us heart attacks. We couldn't find you for a long while."

Skye and Simmons got up and Simmons offered Fitz a helping, caring hand, "Come back with us. It won't help to stay in here and hide forever."

Fitz hesitated and finally smiled up at Simmons before taking her hand and getting up. "You promise?"

Simmons smiled as they walked out of the room, "I promise."

* * *

"She knows vaguely now."

"Vaguely about what?"

"Mostly that 'her parents were monsters' and that there is 'darkness inside of her'."

"How does she know?"

"Probably her old, well, lover. I told him a little bit and he told her. I didn't tell him much, so she probably doesn't know much either."

"Good. I want to find her myself."

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"I have my ways. I plan on getting my daughter back."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. So Fitz has been found and reassured that he will be ok. But who were those two people talking at the end? What's gonna happen next? Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. PLEASE: I need some ideas for this story, mostly for Skye's parents and what to do with Ward. If you have any just leave them in a review! Keep reading and please review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	8. Chapter 8 (You Will Help)

**Chapter Eight (You're Gonna Help)**

"Sir, I have a new idea of how to get your daughter." Raina said, looking to the dark figure looming in the chair next to her.

The figure's head perked up, "Yeah, and how is that?" he asked.

"It's risky, but it may work."

"_**May**_?"

"The man I was talking about, the one that your daughter used to love, we get him." Raina explained. "She may claim that she still hates him, but I still think that there is a, well, connection between the two still." She paused, "But I still think that it may work."

"Then why is it so risky?"

"Well, he's in jail."

"For what reason?"

"That whole Hydra thing, the terrorist organization inside of SHIELD. He ended up being Hydra. I think that he killed several SHIELD agents and attempted to kill two of your daughter's team members. So it is risky trying to get him. But I think he will be able to get your daughter to you."

"Fine, we'll use him."

"How do you plan on getting him out of that prison?" Raina asked. "It's a maximum security prison."

The figure smiled, "I, Al-Kor, will always find a way."

* * *

Ward sat in the cold loneliness that was his prison cell. There was a knock at his cell door and he looked up to see that his 'food' was here. He wasn't allowed to eat in the prison's cafeteria for a while due to a skirmish he was with another prisoner the other day. So his food was delivered to his cell.

He sighed and slowly got up to retrieve it. He picked up the dull gray tray with whatever the hell was on it and returned to his bed. Could he even call this food? It didn't even look like food to him. It was just a gray, cold mush of something, something that looked like ham, some shriveled-up beans, and what he guessed was a carton of milk.

He took a few bites before placing the tray aside, the 'food' was as gross as hell and he had no desire to eat it. Some days the food was ok and others it was just completely horrible.

The memory of what had happened between him and Skye a few days came back to him. Why did he have to yell at her? It wouldn't help anything to do that. He wanted to regain the team's trust, but he knew that would never happen.

He was given no release date, and he was probably going to be in her for a long time with no chance of getting something like parole. He was charged with being a terrorist and murder, so there was no chance of getting parole.

Laying down on the bed, he thought what could've happened if he had left Garrett behind and had stayed with the team. He would've probably would've been killed by Garrett for leaving him, but it would be better than what was going on now.

Suddenly, the air grew completely strange. Ward sat up, feeling that something bad was about to happen, but he didn't know what it was.

But he was right, because after that single second, Ward's vision went dark as an explosion rocked the prison.

* * *

(A Few Hours Later at the Playground.)

Coulson approached the rest of the team, along with a strange look on his face.

"Coulson, what's wrong?" Skye asked, noticing his distress.

"I've just been notified by the prison that Ward was at." he said. "There was a massive explosion and Ward is no where to be found. They are assuming that he is dead."

"What?"

"You sure that it wasn't an attempt to escape?" Fitz asked.

"No, they think it was from an outside source." Coulson replied. "They think that someone attacked the prison for reasons unknown. But they're assuming that Ward was most likely killed in the explosion."

"So he's dead?" Skye asked, not sure what to think.

"When did this happen?" May asked.

"A few hours ago."

"Good, he can't hurt anybody else." Fitz muttered.

"Fitz!" Simmons exclaimed, shocked at what he had said.

"It's true."

Triplett looked at the two.

"I don't know if he's actually dead."

"He probably escaped." Triplett said.

"I don't think that he would do that." Skye said. "When I saw him he seemed like he thought he belonged there and wanted to be there. I don't think that he would've escaped."

Coulson sighed, "No one knows what to think anymore."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. I completely made up the name for Al-Kor, so he is kind of an OC. But he is Kree. It seems that Skye's father wants Ward so he can find Skye. An explosion rocks the prison and the team thinks that Ward is dead. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and **PLEASE** review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	9. Chapter 9 (What On Earth?)

**Chapter Nine (What On Earth?)**

Ward groaned and opened his eyes to find that he was no longer at the prison. He stood up and found that he was in another cell, but this one was dark, musty, and cold. So this was definitely not the prison.

He looked down to see that his prison uniform was tattered in torn. He tried to remember what had happened, but he couldn't. His mind was a total blank for the past couple of hours.

There was a knock at the cell's rust-covered door and Ward turned as it opened. He frowned as he saw that it was Raina coming into the cell.

"You?" he asked with his now raspy voice from his injury. "What are you doing here? Where am I?"

Raina smiled, "That doesn't need to be said." She took note of his changed voice, "Your voice has changed."

"Try taking the Cavalry to your larynx." Ward grumbled. "But again, what are you doing here and where am I?"

"I can't say where we are at right now." Raina said. "But there is someone who wants to see you."

"Who?" Ward asked. "I know that it's not Hydra, 'cause you were really never with them. It's not Coulson, I know that much. Who is it?"

"You'll see." Raina said, smiling. She disappeared and returned with some clothes and shoes for Ward, "Here, I don't think that you want to stay in those rags." she said. "I think this will fit." She went out the room and closed the door, not locking it.

Ward narrowed his eyes and the clothes but went ahead and put them on anyway. He was surprised, they fit pretty well. A little big, but not by that much. It was just a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and some boots, similar to what he would normally wear.

He sighed and went out of the cell to meet Raina.

"Come with me."

Ward hesitated but followed the woman anyway. He didn't want to stay another second in that cell, he was tired of cells after a couple of weeks.

Raina led him into a bigger room, where a figure was sitting in a chair waiting for the two.

"What on Earth?" Ward asked.

The figure stood, clearly several inches taller than the six-foot-two Ward and clearly not human. His skin was a darker hue than the average American, his eyes were a wicked green, and his hair was a shiny silver.

"So are you the man that Raina here has been talking about?" he asked, Ward noticing that he sounded fairly human but had a deep voice.

Ward crossed his arms, "So what if I am?" he asked. "What's so important that you somehow got me out of jail? And how did you do that anyway?"

The man, or thing, smiled, "I had the prison attacked and got you out of there. You should be thankful."

Ward stayed silent.

"But I understand that you have deep connections with somebody that I am looking for."

Ward raised an eyebrow, "What? But first, what the hell are you?"

A smile, "I knew that you would end up asking that. I am what you would call a Kree, from the planet Hala. We are a fairly humanoid species. My name is Al-Kor."

Ward swallowed, becoming nervous, "And what is an alien doing on Earth?" he asked.

"Let's just say that I became marooned on this planet many years ago and I lost someone close to me. That's who I understand that you happen to know."

"Yeah, and who is this?"

Al-Kor dug out a picture, slightly blood-stained, and handed it to Ward.

Ward almost dropped it in surprise, "T-This is Skye."

"So you do know her?"  
"Yeah, we used to be teammates. But now she hates me for various reasons, so I can't say that we really have deep connections. But what is she to you? Why do you want her?" Ward asked.

Al-Kor chuckled, "I see that you probably still have feelings for 'Skye'."

Ward became flustered ever so slightly.

"Well," Al-Kor began, "She is my daughter."

Ward's heart skipped several beats, "What?" he asked. "Your daughter? She's an alien? What?" Ward thought back to what Raina had said, _'The baby's parents were the monsters.'_

This guy was responsible for the slaughter of a Chinese village and an entire SHIELD team.

"She is what we would call a pink-skinned Kree, hardly distinguishable from the ordinary human being." Al-Kor said. "I want you to see if you can find her and bring her back to me."

"And what if I don't want to?" Ward didn't want to bring Skye back to the monster if everything was true.

Al-Kor frowned, "I don't think that you want to deny my request." he said. "Actually, it's more of a command. You do it, or face the consequences."

Ward gulped. Was he just broken out of prison to fall under the orders of another Garrett? And he thought that this guy meant serious business.

He hesitated, "I-I'll try to find her." he said. It was true, he did want to find her, but he wasn't going to bring her back to this monster. He was going to find her to protect her and the team.

Al-Kor smiled, "Good, you better. And I'll be watching you." He disappeared elsewhere.

Ward turned with a shiver to face Raina again, who carried a duffle bag.

She smiled and handed Ward the bag, "These are some supplies to help you, mostly some clothes and some money."

Ward blinked, surprised at Raina's kindness, but she had never seemed to be the mean kind.

"We are in the mountains of Tennessee," she said. "So that will help. But there's one thing, America thinks that you're dead."

"What?"

"They believe that you were killed in the attack at the prison you were at." Raina replied. "You'll have to keep low to not arouse suspicions."

Ward gulped and nodded. He turned without saying another word and found his way out of the tattered building.

Raina was right, they were in the mountains. Ward started his trek down the mountain to find the nearest town and to start his search for Skye and the team. He didn't want her falling into the hands of the monster that claimed to be her father.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Another chapter today! And there might be a third one coming! Al-Kor wants Ward to find Skye, and Ward agrees, but only to keep her from Al-Kor's hands. Can he find the team? Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and please review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	10. Chapter 10 (One Choice)

**Chapter Ten (One Choice)**

"Mother of monkeys!" Fitz exclaimed as the screwdriver dropped from his grasp.

Simmons looked at him, "Are you ok?" she asked. "And why did you yell about monkeys when dropping a screwdriver?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Fitz muttered, picking the tool back up. "And I couldn't think of anything to yell at the moment and that was the first thing that popped into my head."

"What are you doing anyway?" Simmons asked, coming to sit down on the couch next to him.

"Trying to fix up the DWARFs." he said. "They need a little bit of tuning up, but I keep dropping everything. That isn't like me."

'He must be having some motor skills problems.' Simmons thought to herself. 'There's no telling what else could be wrong with him. He's developed a really bad temper, he is forgetting all the small things, and it seems to take him longer at tasks that were once simple to him.' She took a breath. 'Ward, what did you do to him?'

"Ya'know Ward got what he deserved." Fitz said. "He got what was coming to him."

Simmons looked in surprise at the man, "Fitz, no one deserves death, not even him."

"You sure?" Fitz asked, raising an eyebrow. "Criminals everyday get sentenced to death row and Ward is no better than those prisoners. He tried to kill us, Jemma. Could you ever forgive that?"  
'His attitude towards Ward has changed drastically.' Simmons thought. 'He went from being in complete denial over Ward' betrayal to saying that he deserved his death.'

"Ah, I don't know, Fitz. I don't know what to think." Simmons said. "I really thought that he was our friend and when he went to Garrett's side like that, I didn't know what to believe. But I don't think that he deserved a fiery death like that. Yes, he should be in jail, but not a death like that."

"Well it's better that he's gone." Fitz said, placing aside the DWARF. "He can no longer bother us. Jemma, no one likes him anymore. Skye absolutely hates him, May hates him, Coulson hates him, and I'm pretty sure that Triplett doesn't like him either."

"Fitz, like I said, I don't know what to think. I don't totally like him. Actually, I really don't like him. I'm just saying that he didn't deserve to burn in an explosion like that."

"Well I'm saying he did and that's that." Fitz said, getting up and walking off.

Simmons stayed on the couch, watching Fitz go. 'What hasn't changed about him?'

* * *

Ward, after several hours of walking, finally found a small town on the foothills of the mountain. He found a small diner and went in to get something to eat.

After he ordered, he started to dig around in the bag that Raina had given him. There were clothes, a credit card with no telling how much money on it, a few other items, and a phone. Ward picked up the phone.

Strange, this looked like his old phone. But he had lost it after joining back up with Garrett several weeks ago. He turned it on and was surprised to see that it was his old phone. Raina must have found it and put it in there.

There were several missed calls from Skye on there from several weeks ago. It had to be several weeks ago because there was no way that Skye would be calling him now.

The waitress brought him his food, a burger and some fries. He thanked her, but he didn't eat it. He kept staring at the missed call notifications on his phone. He was temped to press the call back button, but he knew that Skye wouldn't answer anyway. Why should she call her anyway? She had no use for him and probably thought he was dead, killed in the explosion at the prison caused by Al-Kor.

But he had to find her and keep her from her so-called father. He didn't know where they were and his only contact with her was sitting right in front of him taunting him.

He took a deep breath and picked up his phone. His finger hovered over the call back button, hesitating to press it. After a few unnerving moments he gulped and pressed call back. What was the worst that could happen anyway?

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Fitz's mentality about Ward has changed drastically and Ward makes the unnerving decision to call Skye. What's the worst that can happen? Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	11. Chapter 11 (A Call from a Ghost)

**Chapter Eleven (A Call from a Ghost)**

Skye jumped as her phone started to vibrate and ring in her pants pocket. Who would be calling her? Everyone she knew was in the same building as her.

"Skye!" she heard Fitz yell. "Your phone is ringing!"

"Yeah, I heard that!"  
"Who the hell is this?" she mumbled, digging her phone out of her pocket. She almost dropped it when she saw the all too familiar name on the LED display and the silly picture she had set as the contact.

'_**Ward**__?' _she thought. 'No way, he's dead.'

Her hand started to shake slightly. 'Should I answer?' she thought. 'He's dead, and he didn't care about us.'

The phone rang again.

"Skye, turn it off!" Fitz yelled from nowhere.

"Alright!" Skye exclaimed. She gulped and pressed answer, holding the phone up to her ear, "H-Hello?"

"Skye? Thank goodness it's you."

"Grant?" Skye lowered her voice. "How, you're dead. You were killed. And how are you calling me from your phone?"

"First of all, I'm not dead. That explosion was staged and I was knocked unconscious and taken to God know where. Second, you and the team are in great danger."

"What? I know you're lying." Skye said. "How do I know that I can trust you? You lied to us. And just the other day you told me that you never wanted to see me again at the jail. Why are you calling now? What are we in danger from? Your idiocy?"

"Ah, no." Skye could hear the irritation rising in his voice. "It's not me. But Skye, please don't be kidding around. I'm risking myself just to call you. There is someone that really wants you, and he's making me track you down, probably against my will."

Skye clenched her teeth, "And when are you going to stop following maniacs?"

"I'm not! I shouldn't even be talking to you right now! I want you to be safe, I don't want you falling into this guy's hands."

"And how do I know that you aren't making this stuff up? You were Hydra just a few weeks ago, now you want to protect us?"

"Skye, please stop acting like this is a joke. It isn't. You're in great danger. You have to get to safety. I'm protecting you because I still care for you. I made a huge mistake, but now I'm choosing you even after everything that has happened. Even after you told me that you hated me and called me a monster right in my face." There was a sense of fright in his normally calm voice.

Skye almost snorted, "Really? You do?" she asked. "I don't believe it. And who is this mystery man anyway? The Great Pumpkin? Loki?"

"No Skye, please stop joking. This man, urm alien, is the one responsible for the slaughter of that Chinese village and that SHIELD team 24 years ago, he's dangerous. I don't think that you want to be messing with him at all. And he is,"

The phone cut off.

"Ward? Ward?" Skye asked. "Damn, that figures." she said, placing her phone down. She was very skeptical of what Ward had told her. But would he really go out of his way when the world thought that he was dead to call her about an alien wanting to capture her? No, he wouldn't. Something didn't add up with his entire explanation. She had to tell Coulson about this.

* * *

"Damn." Ward said, looking at the display of his phone once the call had cut off. "What happened?" He frowned as a message popped up onto the screen.

'_Don't try to warn her. That's not what I wanted. You're supposed to find her. Remember, you don't know what I am capable of doing to you.'_

Crap. So this guy was watching his communications at the very moment? Very persistent. How was he going to get into good contact if Al-Kor was tracking him like this? There was no way that he could have a decent conversation with Skye or even Coulson, if he could, with the alien watching him like this.

He had to rethink his plan. He was stuck in a small Tennessee town and had no clue to where the team was located. There was no telling where they could be at. He really had to rethink his plan.

Ward turned back to his burger and fries and took a few bites out of them. He really wasn't hungry at the moment and really didn't care for his food right now, but it was best to get some fuel into him. He got up and walked out of the diner after picking up a map from beside the door.

The map showed a slightly bigger town five miles to the west of his location. Hopefully he could find some other means of communication there. All he had to do now was to start walking. Hopefully he could get to Skye before Al-Kor did.

* * *

Should she tell Coulson about her and Ward's conversation? She didn't know if the man would take her seriously. But something about the whole thing scared her. Was there really an alien after her? What would have Ward so frightened that he was pleading with her to stop joking around and listen to him?  
She didn't want to find out. Ward was never scared, even when he was actually a part of the team and they cared for him. He had never shown fright, but now he was. That's what was worrying her.

Skye walked down the hallway towards where Coulson had his so-called office set up. She approached the doorway and peeked in.

Coulson looked up, noticing her, "Skye, what is it?" he asked. "What's the matter?"

She came in, holding her phone, "You'll never believe who just called me, and it sounds very strange but also very serious at the same time. But just listen to me."

"Who was it?"

"Ward. Ward called me."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Skye and Ward talk, Skye doesn't believe him at first but then becomes suspicious at it all. Ward decides to head west and Skye decides to tell Coulson. What's gonna happen? Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	12. Chapter 12 (Watch Out)

**Chapter Twelve (Watch Out)**

"What?" Coulson asked, disbelief filling his voice. "What do you mean that Ward called you? He's dead. He was killed at the prison."

Skye shook her head, "I still don't believe it either, but he did. He called me warning me about someone trying to find me. Something about whoever that person is is using him to track me down. He said he was trying to protect me by telling me all of this. Something about a slaughter in China and monsters. But I really don't believe him even though something doesn't seem right."

"It sounds, hold on. Did you just say a slaughter in China and monsters?" Coulson asked, fear growing in his eyes.

"Yes, why?" Realization hit Skye like a brick, "Coulson, you don't mean what Ward told me back at the prison the first time is true?" she asked. "That my parents were monsters and killed an entire village trying to get me?"

Coulson gulped, "I don't know about the monster part, but the slaughter of the Chinese village is right."

"Could this person using Ward possibly be one of my parents?" Skye asked. "Ward said something about a he. Could it be my father?"

Coulson shook his head, "I don't know. But this definitely needs to be checked out."

"How do we do that?" Skye asked. "Are you sure? Ward said this guy was dangerous and it isn't the best thing to mess with him?"

"And you are listening to Ward? Remember, he lied to us. He could be making all of this up to fool with us."

"Would Ward make all of this up when the world thinks he's dead? I don't think he would make stuff up about some alien after me? Either he's completely gone nuts or he's actually telling the truth. I think that we may have to trust him on this."

Coulson's stomach grew cold. He didn't want to trust Ward, not at all. But with Skye and the team's safety in harm's way that could be the only choice to go with. A choice that would be hard for Coulson to make.

How would the team take this, trying to find Ward? May still wanted Ward dead, Fitz had a strong hatred for him now, Simmons didn't like him, and neither did Triplett. What was Coulson to do?

Coulson took a deep breath, "Alright, we try to find him." he said. "Just to ask him questions about all of this. We track him down and get to him before this alien or whatever does. But I'm not going to start trusting him again. You know that. I'm doing this for the team's safety. If there really is a crazy alien claiming to be your father after you and Ward knows more about it, I want to talk to him. I think that the hardest thing now is trying to convince the rest of the team to go along with this plan. You know that they aren't too fond of him either."

* * *

"Dammit Triplett!" Fitz exclaimed, throwing down a video game controller. "How do you keep winning?"

Triplett smiled, "I'm just better with guns than you."

"This is a video game!"

"So? Then I have better virtual aim than you."

Fitz crossed his arms and grumbled to himself.

Simmons laughed at the engineer's frustration, even though some of it was a result of his injury most likely. Even May, who was watching the three from across the room, smiled a little.

They looked up as Coulson and Skye came in.

"Coulson, what's the matter?" May asked.

"I, um, have decided that we are going after Ward."

"What?!" Fitz exclaimed. "He's dead!"

Skye shook her head, "No he isn't." She continued to tell the whole story of what Ward had told her.

"Is it true?" Triplett asked.

"We don't know." Coulson said. "But it seems really strange and Skye thinks that Ward wouldn't make something like this up. It's a possibility that this alien or whatever is Skye's father. So we have to investigate this. But it involves trying to track down Ward and get him for questioning."

"Coulson, this isn't a good idea." May said. "It could be a trap for Ward to get back at us. Meeting up with him isn't a good thing."

"We aren't meeting up with him." Coulson said. "We are simply dropping in to basically interrogate him. If anything goes wrong, May can deal with it."

Coulson could've sworn that May had smirked.

"Are you sure this is a good thing to do?" Simmons asked.

"It isn't." Fitz stated. "He's going to try and kill us once we find him. It's a huge trap."

"We don't know that." Coulson said. "But we have to find him to find out more about this threat. This isn't about Ward or Hydra anymore. It's about the very safety of my team. And I want to assure that no one gets hurt."

"How do we even begin to look?" Triplett said. "It's sounds like Ward was taken from the prison and then escaped from wherever he was being held captive. There's no telling where he could be at by now."

"I can track him by using his phone." Skye said. "I can trace the call back to his location. Just give me the time and I'll have a location pinpointed."

Coulson nodded and Skye left to trace the call. As he turned around to go back to his 'office' for the time being May stopped him.

"Coulson, are you completely sure that this is ok?" she whispered. "Last time we all saw him he was trying to kill us. He was completely nuts. How do we know that we can trust him?"

"We don't." Coulson responded. "But we have to take a risk to make sure that this guy is real and to protect each and every one of us. I know I am making a quick decision. But I don't want to just ignore this and have this guy come and kill us. This is a decision to protect our lives."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Skye convinces Coulson to check the threat and Ward out. And Coulson convinces the team to go along with it even though they are completely skeptical of the whole idea. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	13. Chapter 13 (No Time for a Track Down)

**Chapter Thirteen (No Time for a Track Down)**

Ward continued to walk for hours on end, only stopping to rest and get something to eat. He wanted to get as much distance between him and that alien as was possible.

He just hoped that Skye would take him seriously and try to find protection from Al-Kor. But he thought that Skye would just think that he was lying and ignore everything that he had told her. She probably even thought that he had lost his mind.

He looked up to see that the night was growing dark and he didn't want to be walking after dark. Luckily, he was in a small town that had a decent looking motel that he could stay at for the night. He didn't have a clue to where he was at and really didn't care.

Ward made his way to the motel and paid for a room. He found his room and saw that it was pretty decent, not the best but it would due for the night. He sat his duffel bag down on the bed and decided that he probably needed a shower.

But then his phone vibrated. Who could that be? Skye wouldn't be texting him most likely. He pulled the phone out of his pocket to see the ominous message that took up the screen.

'_You're stalling. Don't waste time. I don't like to wait. I think that you are doing this for a reason. Do what I told you to do and there won't be consequences.'_

Al-Kor. Once again the alien somehow managed to send Ward a message. How did he even have his number? Probably Raina's doing or whatnot.

Ward gulped, he was running out of time. He didn't want to bring Skye to the alien but he didn't want to know what would happen to him if he didn't comply with Al-Kor's wishes. It was a strong avoidance-avoidance situation at best.

He took a deep breath and pulled off his shirt, throwing it onto the bed. He walked into the small, musty bathroom knowing that this would be a long night.

* * *

Skye had finally, after about an hour of tracing, had tracked down Ward's location. She had tracked him down to a small town near the border of Tennessee. He had been moving, but he had been stopped for a while. Hopefully Skye could keep the track on him.

She went to Coulson's office to tell him Ward's location.

"Good. I guess we go there." Coulson said, getting up from the desk. "We'll take the Bus and hopefully he is still near the same location when we get there. We get him and ask him about what he knows about this alien. Hopefully he will comply."

"If he made the effort to call and tell me about it. I bet he will tell us what he knows." Skye said, following Coulson out of the office and down the hallway and into the common room where the rest of the team was at.

"Skye has found where Ward is at." Coulson announced. "The plan is to get there on the Bus, get him, and then ask him for whatever he knows about what is going on."  
"Coulson, do you have everything planned through?" May asked. "Nothing needs to go wrong with this."

"I'm sure that everything will be fine." Coulson replied. "It's just a matter of trying to find Ward."

"And making sure that he doesn't try to kill us." Fitz stated.

"Fitz," Skye said. "I don't think he will."

"Are you sure?" Simmons asked. "He already tried to kill us once and look what it did to Fitz."

"She has a point." Triplett added in.

Coulson held up a hand, "I'm sure that we will be fine. I don't think that Ward would attempt to kill us at this point. He doesn't have Garrett at this point. But we still need to watch our backs and watch him. There's still no telling to what he could do.

"This is mainly a matter of the team's safety here. If there is really a murderous alien out there, I want him stopped before any of us can get hurt. He may be using Ward as a trap or doesn't even know where Ward is at. We have to take all precautions with this."

Coulson took a breath, "Are you guys ready?" he asked. "We're in Colorado, and he's in Tennessee. It's going to take a while to get there. So we better leave now before Ward can get far."

The rest of the team nodded and they followed Coulson to the Bus.

* * *

"She has located Ward and they are on their way to find him." Raina reported. "I suggest that you get her once they get there."

Al-Kor looked up, "So you're saying to set a trap?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I guess we can let them get distracted with talking to the man and that's when I will try to get my daughter back." Al-Kor said. "And there's no stopping me from achieving what I want. Their blood will be on my hands and I will get what rightfully belongs to me. We should leave now."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. This note will be short. So all of that happened. What will happen next? Don't feel like typing anymore. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE REVIEW. ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	14. Chapter 14 (Overtake You)

**Chapter Fourteen (Overtake You)**

Ward blinked his eyes open and turned his head to see that the motel clock read 6:00 A.M.. He should as well get up and get moving, he didn't have anytime to waste. He hadn't really slept that much during the night. His sleep came in 30 minute increments every so often, so it didn't account for much at all.

He got out of the lumpy, dusty bed and put some decent clothes on, preparing for departure. He didn't bother with a shower or anything, knowing that he didn't have that much time to spare. Throwing his bag over his shoulder, he went to the door and opened it. But there was another person on the other side, one person he'd never thought that he would see again.

"Ward."

"Coulson?" Ward asked. "What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"Skye told me about your 'little' chat you had with her." Coulson said. "And Skye tracked you using your phone's signal."

"Great." Ward muttered. "What are you doing here?"

"We want to know more about this 'alien' or whatever after Skye." Coulson replied. "I thought that you would know more."

"I already said too much." Ward stated. "I can't say anymore without risking myself any further. Now if you will excuse me, I have to get going."

Coulson narrowed his eyes, "Oh, now it's about you again. You're putting yourself in higher priority than the people that used to care for you." he said. "And I thought that you wanted to protect Skye."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying if you don't come back with me to the Bus, I will call the cops and get you sent back to prison. You may be listed as dead, but once they find out that you're alive, they'll come running for you."

"You can't do this."

"Oh yes I can. You went to all the trouble to call Skye about this problem and now you're backing out. I want you on the Bus now."

"I rather not. He could be watching me. He'll follow me and you'll just be in great danger if I come."

Coulson almost snorted, "Are you sure?" he asked. "I'm still not sure that you are not just making all of this up to pull our legs."

"And why would I cause this much trouble to create something like this?" Ward asked. "Really, why would I? I'm not lying. Now I need to go, now. I don't want to waste time."

Coulson sighed, "I didn't want to do this, but I guess that I have no choice."

"What?"

Ward heard what sounded like a high-pitched gun and his vision went dark.

* * *

Ward groaned and opened his eyes to find himself in the Cage of the Bus. "That bastard," he grumbled. "He used the ICER gun on me. Why force me here? This is against the law, isn't it?"  
"It's not the first time that Coulson's 'kidnapped' someone."

"What?" Ward looked as he was getting up to see Skye sitting at the table. "What are you talking about?"

"Remember when you first met me?" she asked. "You and Coulson plucked me right out of my van, threw a bag over my head, and forced me into this very same room. And then you proceeded to 'interrogate' me, you weren't very good at it either."

"Oh, that." Ward muttered. "Why does Coulson want me here?" he asked. "I was trying my best to keep my distance, I didn't want _**him **_to follow me and find you."

"Coulson wants you here to find out about that." Skye stated. "That's all."

"And what is he going to do with me when he's done?" Ward asked. "Throw me out? Send me back to jail? Remember, I'm dead according to the government."

"Well, uh, I don't know about that." Skye replied. "Honestly, I don't."

There was a knock at the door and Coulson came in, "Ward, you're coming out here." he said. "We all want to know what is going on and we all can't fit in here. No funny business. If you attempt to try anything fishy, I'll have May reprehend you in a split second. Do you hear me?"

"Sure." Ward muttered and followed Skye and Coulson out into the main area. He was only met by harsh stares. He flinched at the pure hatred flowing from the agents' eyes. But what disturbed him most was the hate coming from Fitz, he had never seen the engineer like this. Was this just a natural response, or did he really mess him up?

"So, Ward, tell us what is going on." Coulson said after a while. "What is this about an alien after Skye and threatening my team?" he asked.

"There is, uh, a being I should say," Ward started, assuming that there was no way that Al-Kor could be listening. So he assumed that he was safe to explain everything.

He was the one that attacked the prison and he kidnapped me from there. He told me that I was the only way to find someone he wanted. He said the person was his daughter. Then he showed me a picture of Skye.

"He was clearly not human. Definitely alien. He had to be the guy that slaughtered the Chinese village. He wanted me to bring Skye to him. I manage to get away and I have been running ever since. I didn't want her to fall into that alien's hands.

"I decided to call, even thought you thought I was dead. I wanted to warn you. I didn't want anybody getting hurt."

"Yeah right, I don't believe it." Fitz snorted.

"Fitz!" Simmons exclaimed. "Let him talk at least!"

"And why would you want to protect us now since you tried to kill us several weeks ago?" Fury filled his face, "Why would you?! You're just contradicting everything that you have done!"

"I want to know that too." Triplett said.

"It was supposed to float!" Ward exclaimed. "I didn't know that it would sink! Garrett ordered me to shoot you two, but I didn't want to. I thought that the only way for you to survive was to eject you in that pod. I thought that it would float and Coulson would eventually find you. I didn't think," he trailed off.

May shot Coulson a look that told him to take Ward back to the Cage before something could erupt.

Coulson told Ward to come with him and took him back.

Fitz blinked, "What?" he asked. "He thought that it would float? Is he even any of what he is saying the truth?"

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Wow, that's one of my longest chapters, but there was a lot to say. Coulson 'takes' Ward back to the Bus, Ward explains about Al-Kor, Fitz gets furious, Ward tells him that he didn't mean to try and kill them, and Ward gets taken back to the Cage. Wonderful, isn't it? What will happen next? Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	15. Chapter 15 (Coming Ever so Close)

**Chapter Fifteen (Coming Ever so Close)**

Ward sighed and leaned back in the chair of the Cage. Technically, it seemed, he was still imprisoned. Only this time it was by people that knew him very well and didn't like him that much either at this point.

But he had never seen Fitz like that, ever. He had seen the engineer get irritated every now and then, but never to the point of screaming in anger like that. Was he just that mad at him, or did Ward really do something to him?

The first time Fitz had learned about him being Hydra, he was in denial. Fitz refused to believe that Ward was Hydra, even for one second. He kept saying that they were still best friends. Did he just move on to anger? Ward didn't know.

He was still taking in the harsh, cutting glares he had received earlier. They had cut into him like a knife. He was finally really realizing the effects that his decisions had made. The people that once trusted him no longer did, the girl that loved him now hated him, and the engineer that treated him like his best friend now despised him. And Fitz was slightly mentally handicapped because of his rash decision that he thought that would save them. It did, but at what cost?

Now Ward had an alien using him to find Skye. Ward was trying his best to protect Skye now from Al-Kor, trying to make up for everything that he had done. But he knew that this wouldn't be enough to regain their trust, nothing would ever be enough. They would always view him with a sense of doubt, even if they let him back onto the team. He would never have their full trust again.

Could he even protect Skye at this point? Could he even protect the team? They would keep their distance from him, afraid that he would try to pull something funny. They would be wary of him. Hell, Coulson may even just keep him in the Cage until this whole mess was dealt with and then send him back to prison. He would be locked up in here while Al-Kor would probably try to slaughter the team trying to get his daughter back.

He felt so helpless at this point, but he should try to comply with whatever Coulson said to try and keep on his good side. He just wished that the team would let him help. He had come this far, he didn't want it to end now. He didn't want it to end in blood.

* * *

"Was he telling the truth?" Fitz asked, still stunned. "Was it true? He did it to save us?"

"Fitz," Simmons began.

Coulson sighed, "We don't know that." he said. "We don't even really know anything about Ward at the moment. We don't even know if he is telling the truth with this whole situation. But it still seems like something that he wouldn't make up, unless he's gone completely crazy. But what he said about Skye was true.

"She was found in China as a baby after somebody had slaughter the whole village and SHIELD team. I don't know about her parents being the ones that slaughtered the village. But the first part is what convinced me. The rest will need investigating."

"What is your plan?" May asked. "What are you going to do with Ward?"

Triplett looked at Coulson, "He could probably help us track this guy down if he knows where he is."

"Coulson?" Skye asked.

Coulson took a breath, "We'll work with him, he's bound to know more about it, he didn't have the time to talk. But," He looked at May, "If anything goes wrong I'll have his ass shipped off to another prison. I'm giving him one chance, if he slips he's off. That's the best I can do."

May didn't respond, she was still wary of the whole thing.

"I don't like it." Fitz stated. "He's crazy, we can't trust him."

"Fitz, we may need his help." Simmons said.

Fitz grumbled in response.

"This may be a bad idea." Coulson said. "But we'll have to go with it to ensure the team's safety."

* * *

"We've located him" Raina said, walking up to Al-Kor.

"Where is he?" he asked.

"With his old team." Raina replied. "With Skye."

Al-Kor smiled, "Good, he's found her."

"What will you do now?"

"Wait. I'll see if they are going to come for me, which I imagine they will. Old SHIELD agents can't resist something like this. If they don't, which I doubt, I will come for them. I will kill whoever gets in my way. Because, I am coming ever so close to what I want and nothing will stop me now."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Sorry for the wait, I had exams all this week and couldn't write. But school is on its last day tomorrow, so chapters will come faster. Coulson wants to work with Ward with trying to find Al-Kor and Al-Kor has them tracked. Is this a good thing? No. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and please review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	16. Chapter 16 (A Second Chance)

**Chapter Sixteen (A Second Chance)**

Ward looked up as Coulson opened the Cage's door and walked in, looking at him.

"C'mon," Coulson said. "I'm giving you a chance to help out with this. You mess up, even a little bit, you're going back to jail. You understand?"

"Yes," Ward grumbled. "Or I'll have May on my ass."

Coulson slightly smiled, "Maybe not exactly like that, but I'm sure that she would be more than willing to take care of you if you slip up. But I am only giving you this one chance, so don't take it for granted. You've led us this far, so help us see if this is true or not, because I still don't know whether to believe you or not."

Ward flexed his hand, "Fine, I just don't want to make anymore mistakes. I've made enough."

Coulson crossed his arms, "Oh really?" he asked. He took a breath, "You know what? Before I drag this any further, just come with me. We don't need to be wasting anymore time if this whole thing is true."

Ward swallowed and got up from the chair, "I promise you I'm not making this thing up."

"Then come with me."

Ward followed Coulson to the Holocom where the rest of the team was waiting, still with hesitant looks.

Coulson pulled up a map on the Holocom's screen, "This is where we found you," he said, pointing to a small town marked Water's Creek, Tennessee. "And this," he continued, moving his finger to another mark. "Is where Skye first tracked your original call from. So we're assuming that's around the area you were kept."

"It was in the mountains." Ward stated. "The first town I was in was at the foot of the mountains." He pointed to about the middle of the mountain, "I'm guessing that's where I was kept, because it took a little while to get to the base of the mountain."

"And you're telling the truth?" May asked.

Ward nodded, "Yes, I am. It was some sort of an old, abandoned warehouse of sorts. But I'm not sure if the guy is still there or not." he continued. "There's no way to tell if he is."

"Then how do we find him?" Skye asked.

"Then we'll take a chance." Coulson turned to May, "May, set a course to this coordinates."

May nodded hesitantly and then went to the cockpit.

Coulson gave Ward one last look before going to his office.

Ward turned to Fitzsimmons, Skye, and Triplett, not sure of what to say to them. He started to say something but stopped when Fitz's face turned to anger once again.

"Fitz?" Simmons asked. "What are you mad about?"

"_Him_!" Fitz exclaimed, pointing at Ward. "He was a killer and a traitor to us not so long ago and now you're deciding to trust him? Simmons, he tried to kill us and you're trusting him."

Ward shuffled his feet, "Fitz, I already said that I wasn't trying to kill you. I wanted to protect you two from Garrett. I was in a bad situation at the time and didn't think the whole thing through. I didn't know that the pod would sink, I didn't know that you would be in a coma for several days and would end up with permanent brain damage. _I didn't know_."

"Then what about everything else?!" Fitz demanded. "You didn't know about that? How you killed Koenig, you practically kidnapped Skye, you followed Garrett around like a blind dog? You were a murderer and a liar. That's what you were. And now you're telling me that you didn't know. How do we know what to think of you?"

Ward gulped, stunned at Fitz's words. Fitz had never been this harsh towards someone ever, and Ward's sins had never sounded so bad to him before until they came out of the engineer's mouth.

"Fitz, I," Ward began.

Fitz frowned, "Don't even, I don't want to hear it." He turned away and stalked off.

Triplett sighed, "I'll go get him." And he walked off to find Fitz.

Simmons looked at Ward, "I know that Fitz is being too harsh, but he is right. You're contradicting everything that you did. I'm sure that you knew that something would happen to us, you just didn't know what. We really don't know what to think of you. For months you were the team specialist that we could trust, you were our friend. Then you turned out to be a Hydra agent following Garrett who turned out to be the Clairvoyant.

"Now you're wanting to protect us, and we can't even trust you to do so. We're watching our backs constantly to make sure that you won't do something. We don't know what to think of you."

"I, I," Ward began, but he didn't know what else to say. They were right.

Skye looked at Simmons, "Jemma, you may want to go help Trip find Fitz, I don't know if he's found him yet."

"I don't know where he could've run off to, we're thousands of feet in the air." Simmons said, walking off.

Skye turned back to Ward, "Grant, I know that Coulson is giving you a second chance, even if it is a slim one. Please, make it so to where we can trust you again, because right now we can't. And I don't know if we ever will trust you. I know that the man that cares for others is still in there. So you better be right about all of this and you better make sure no one gets hurt. Because," She turned around to walk off, "If someone does and it's on you, I can never forgive you again and I'll make sure that Coulson ships your ass back to prison for the rest of your natural life."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Another chapter today since I won't be able to update much tomorrow. Ward agrees to fully help under Coulson's terms, Fitz has some harsh words to share with Ward, and Simmons and Skye talk with him too. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	17. Chapter 17 (Right Where I Wanted)

**Chapter Seventeen (Right Where I Wanted)**

The Bus touched down in the foothills of the Tennessee mountains a little while later. Ward sat in complete silence in the lounge. Fitz was found in the storage area and was in the lab with Simmons and Triplett doing who knows what. Skye sat near him, not saying a single word either.

Coulson came into the lounge and looked at the two, "Not speaking?" he asked.

No response.

"Ok then. We're at the base of the mountain, we'll have to trek up the mountain. And that will take a while so we'll have to take supplies. Fitzsimmons will stay here and monitor the area while we make the hike." Coulson looked firmly at Ward, "And no wandering off for you."

Ward shrugged.

May came out of the cockpit, brushing past Ward without a single word, and went to the cargo hold.

'So I'll be here in silence.' Ward thought to himself, getting up. 'No one talks to me except Skye, Coulson, and Simmons and that's not very much. I wonder what will happen after this whole thing is settled.'

Ward, Skye, and Coulson went into the cargo hold where May and Triplett were gearing up with supplies.

"This will probably take several hours." Coulson announced. "So make sure you have all of the supplies and ammo you can carry. And we don't know exactly who we're dealing with here, so make sure that you have the right weapons with you too.

"Stay together and look out for what may be an abandoned warehouse, that's what we are looking for."

Coulson strapped on his bulletproof vest and grabbed two guns, one normal and the other an ICER. He looked back at the four agents, well they would be agents again sooner or later. Coulson still had major work to do once this was all over.

"Ready?" he asked.

They all nodded and followed Coulson out of the cargo hold.

* * *

Fitz looked at Simmons as they heard the cargo door close from the Holocom, "Why do we have to stay back here?" he asked.

Simmons sighed, "Coulson thought that it wasn't a good idea to have you in the field this soon after waking up from a coma, and you have some brain damage that we don't want getting worse."

"But that was weeks ago!" Fitz exclaimed.

"But still, I don't want you out there either." Simmons said.

"Is it because you think I'll get into a fight with Ward?"

"I didn't say,"

"Go ahead and say it." Fitz stated firmly. "That's what it is. You think that I'm going to fight with Ward."

"Yes, slightly." she replied. "You've been extremely hostile towards him lately, I didn't want anything to happen."

"You know why I've been hostile with him?"

"Yes, Fitz, I know. He was a murderous, lying traitor. But for the sake of this mission, you've got to trust him just a little bit. If there really is an alien out there claiming to be Skye's father that could most likely kill us and Ward knows where he is at, you've got to trust him some."

Fitz turned his head, "I don't think that I can." he muttered. "Even if it is just for a little while."

* * *

"They're headed up the mountain." Raina reported to Al-Kor.

Al-Kor's face lit up in surprise, "Oh, really?" he asked. "How did they get this far?"

"Because of Ward, and they are actually trusting him just a little bit."

"I don't want this to end this fast." Al-Kor said, frowning. "I want to show them what I can do. I want to show them what I will do if they don't comply with me, if I don't get my daughter back."

"They've abandoned their mode of transportation." Raina stated. "But there is two people still aboard and I don't think that it would be the best option."

"Oh, it is the best option." Al-Kor laughed. "You'll watch over the place while I bring those people here. A ransom, their lives in exchange for my daughter. An offer that they cannot resist."

"But I don't think," Raina began.

"No buts," Al-Kor said. "I've already made up my mind and I am leaving to do it. They're right where I wanted them."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. So I was actually able to write another chapter today, my friend aren't coming over until later. The team leaves while Fitzsimmons seem to be in danger. This is bad. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in chapter. Keep reading and please review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	18. Chapter 18 (Courtesy Call)

**Chapter Eighteen (Courtesy Call)**

The small team made their way up the mountainous terrain, moving their way around rocks, trees, and fallen logs. The terrain wasn't the best thing to be moving through, especially at the speed they were going.

Ward looked around, looking for the warehouse he had been kept in. The warehouse that Al-Kor probably called home. He didn't quite remember where it was at, as he had been in a hurry to get away from it several days ago. But he did have a basic sense to where it was at.

The team continued up the rocky slope, still dodging small boulders. Coulson had let Ward lead them up the mountain since he was the one that knew where the old warehouse was at. But they weren't very trusting of his directions mostly because it seemed that he was leading him in a giant circle. They still followed him anyway.

They continued for another thirty minutes when Ward's phone buzzed suddenly in his pocket.

"You expecting a call?" Triplett asked.

"No, the only people that I would call are right here, unless it's Fitzsimmons." Ward replied. "But I think that they would call Skye or Coulson in this case, not me."

Ward pulled out his phone, glancing at the screen to see that it was an unknown number. "I don't know who it is." he said before answering. "Uh, hello?"

"I'm surprised that you answered my call."

Ward's stomach froze, it was Al-Kor.

Ward's voice turned to a whisper, "What the hell do you want?" he asked.

"You shouldn't speak to me in a tone like that." Al-Kor said. "Especially when your friends' lives are at stake."

Ward froze, "What?" he asked.

"This is more of a courtesy call," Al-Kor said. "Concerning your two scientist friends."

* * *

(About an Hour Ago)

Fitz slowly tapped his finger against the table of the Holocom in boredom. They had been sitting here for two hours now and nothing had come up on the screens. Nothing was around for miles to report to Coulson. Nothing at all.

Fitz turned to look at Simmons, "Why are we even doing this?" he asked.

"What?"

"Why are we letting Ward, of all people, leading us on a mission to find some 'alien' that probably doesn't even exist?"

Simmons sighed, "Coulson wants to take all precautions." she replied. "This alien may not even be real, and Ward may just be completely crazy and imagining this all. But when it comes to our safety, our lives, Coulson wants to make sure that we are all safe. Even if that means that we have to trust Ward even for a little bit."

"But still," Fitz said. "I don't like it. He tried to _**kill **_us of all things. He misled us for a long time. And now we're acting like nothing even happened. Why?"

"Like nothing even happened?" Simmons asked. "Fitz, you're oblivious right now. Didn't you see how everyone was acting around him?" she asked. "We're all being cautious right now. Even Coulson has tight measures on him. If he messes up even slightly, he goes straight back to jail. You're not thinking. You really haven't been thinking lately. It's just that,"

"Don't go blaming all of this on my mental condition!" Fitz cut it. "It's not that. I just don't like any of this. Yes, I know it's harder for me to think clearly lately and it takes me longer with things, but this has nothing to do with my opinions on Ward. That's clearly the fact that he tried to kill us."

"Fitz, it's just," Simmons started, but an alarm from the Holocom cut her off. She looked at the monitors, "Somebody is headed this way!" she exclaimed. "No, they're outside the Bus!"

"And now I'm right here. I've messed with your sensors."

Fitzsimmons turned to see a tall man with silver hair and blood caked on his bare, muscular arms. Clearly a monster was on the Bus.

"Who are you?!" Fitz demanded.

The man smiled, "The alien you've been looking for. And now you're just another piece of the puzzle to get my daughter back."

And with that Fitzsimmons' vision went dark.

* * *

(Current Time)

"Concerning _**what**_?!" Ward exclaimed.

"Your two scientist buddies." Al-Kor said. "You really shouldn't have left them by themselves."

"What the hell do you mean?!"  
"I mean that I have them. And that if you want to see them alive again, you better get here as fast as you can and bring my daughter. Oh, and you're not far."

The line went dead.

"Dammit!" Ward snapped, throwing the phone to the ground. "Damn it all!"

"What's wrong?" Skye asked. "Grant, what's wrong? Who was that?"

"It was Al-Kor." Ward replied. "And he has Fitzsimmons somehow with him at the warehouse."

"What?!" Coulson snapped. "How, just how?!"

"Don't be playing a trick." May stated coldly.

"I'm not playing a trick. It was him. But he said we better get there fast if we want to see them alive."

And with that, the team took off in the direction that Ward led them, hoping that Fitzsimmons were okay. But Ward didn't tell them that they were most likely ransom for Skye. They wouldn't live if Skye wasn't handed over to Al-Kor. But Ward wouldn't let that happen.

He wanted to make up for everything. He wouldn't let Al-Kor have Skye. And most of all, he would make sure that Fitzsimmons were safe and the Kree was dead.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Yeah, so all of that happened. I really don't feel like typing a long note, so I'll end it here on that tense note. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	19. Chapter 19 (A Race Against Time)

**Chapter Nineteen (A Race Against Time)**

Fitz groaned and opened his sore eyes, getting himself off of an old, dusty, concrete floor. He looked around, seeing that he was in an old, rusty cell in who knows where. He panicked, remembering that Simmons was with him earlier.

His eyes darted around the cell, until they finally rested on Simmons' unconscious body that was lying near him. He rushed over to her and gently shook her awake, "Jemma, Jemma." he whispered.

A few seconds later, Simmons groaned and opened her eyes, lighting up when she saw Fitz. Fitz helped her sit up. "Where are we?" she asked. "How long have I been out?"

Fitz shrugged, "I don't know. I just woke up too. Do you remember what happened?"

"No, not really." Simmons replied. "I remember that we were on the Bus by ourselves and there was someone headed towards us and then," she trailed off for a bit. "And then there was something that looked like a demon." Horror filled the biochemist's normally calm eyes.

"I'm assuming that you are talking about me, aren't you?"

The deep, startling voice came out of nowhere, spooking the two. They looked to the cell's door to see a tall figure approaching out of the darkness.

"I'm thinking that you're calling me a demon."

As the figure approached, Fitz stood up, Simmon's hand on his leg begging him to sit back down, "Yeah, we are. What else could you be?" he asked.

The figure smiled, "I'm not a demon, that's for sure." he said. "But I'm not human, I'm telling you that much."

"You're alien?" Simmons asked.

"Bingo, you are correct!" he exclaimed.

Fitzsimmons took a closer look at the being. He was tall, taller than Ward at that. He had short, silvery hair that skimmed the top of his somewhat pointed ears. But that wasn't the scary part. The scary part was that his dark skin was laced with numerous scars, caked with what seemed to be dried blood. He was either injured or had done something that Fitzsimmons didn't want to think about.

He edged closer to the cell's door, eyes shining, "Do you want to know who I am?" he asked.

Fitz shook his head, "No, not really. No."

"Well you have to know anyways. You've been chasing me down this entire time. I'm surprised that you didn't know right away."

"Wait, you're Al-Kor?" Simmons asked. "Ward wasn't lying?"

Al-Kor smiled, "I'm really surprised that you actually trusted him, knowing what he has done in the past."

Fitzsimmons' faces froze.

"Oh, I know what he has done. I know that he tried to kill you, I know that he was Hydra. I know all of that. I've been watching you, since you've been with my daughter the whole entire time. It was just a matter of tracking down your location since you were always on the move."

"S-So, Skye is-is not human?" Fitz stammered.

"Yes, if that's her name." Al-Kor said. "I never had the chance to give her a name after SHIELD took her away. She was only a few days old."

"Why were you on Earth?" Simmons asked.

"Well, I'm a Kree originally from the planet Hala, but I was sent into exile for, um, various reasons. Me and my, what you humans would call, wife came here to Earth. We took refuge in that Chinese village for a few days until my daughter was born.

"But that's when SHIELD found us, they killed my wife and took my child."

"And you slaughtered the village and the SHIELD team." Fitz cut in.

Al-Kor frowned, "Well yes, I didn't know that you knew that. But I did, and now I want my daughter back."

"You're not getting Skye." Fitz stated coldly.

"Oh, really?" he asked. "I'm not. But that's what you are here for, so I can get her back."

"What?" Simmons asked.

"Oh, I didn't tell you that. You're ransom for my daughter." Al-Kor smiled. "Your lives for my daughter. If she isn't handed over to me, your blood is the cost. Meaning that you will be killed if I don't get what I want, so your friends better make the right choice. And you better hope that Ward doesn't stab you in the back once more."

* * *

Ward raced up the mountain, followed by Skye, Coulson, May, and Triplett. They weaved in and out of rocks and fallen logs as fast as they could.

Ever since Ward had received the last message, they had gone full speed. This was a race against time now. When did Al-Kor capture Fitzsimmons? They had just left the Bus not too long ago. When did he do it?

After several long minutes Ward stopped in front of an old, rusty, metal warehouse, "I think this is it. Only warehouse for miles." he said.

"You better not be wrong." May stated.

"I don't think that I am."

"Then let's go." Coulson said. "We don't want to risk Fitzsimmons' lives here."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. So all of that happened. I'm going to try and finish up this story this week, because I have knee surgery next Monday and I wont be able to get to my laptop for a while and I don't want to leave you guys with a massive time gap. (Me and my friend are calling it Kree surgery and I'm going to Tahiti.) Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and please review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	20. Chapter 20 (Supply and Demand)

**Chapter Twenty (Supply and Demand)**

"R-Ransom?!" Fitz exclaimed, stumbling over the word. "You can't do that! And there's no way that we'll let you have Skye! We're not going to do that!"

Al-Kor smiled, "Then it's your deaths then, right?" he asked. "'Cause I either get my daughter back or I get to kill you two. There's no other option, 'cause I won't be defeated or whatever. I will get what I want."

"They'll find a way to stop you." Simmons said. "They won't let us die and they won't let you have Skye. They'll stop you."

"I have back-up." Al-Kor said. "And they'll kill on command. And do you really think that Ward will give up his Skye in order to save you two?" he asked mockingly. "'Cause I don't think so."

Simmons gulped, "I-I don't know." she said. "I know that he cares for Skye and all, but I don't think that he would do something that would get him thrown back in jail. Coulson already threatened him that he would go back to jail if he messed up. Ward wouldn't have us killed."

"You really think that?"

Simmons quickly looked to Fitz, "What?" she asked.

"You really think that _**Ward **_of all people will save us?" Fitz asked. "He tried to kill us once and he's selfish. If it comes down to his life, he'll do what he wants."

"I don't think," Simmons began.

"Listen to the boy." Al-Kor cut in. "He's right. Are you really counting on a prisoner to save you? You can probably trust my daughter and those three other people, but not him. 'Cause now it's a game of supply and demand. You're the supply and Skye is the demand." Al-Kor walked off.

* * *

Al-Kor met up with Raina in another room of the warehouse.

"Interesting conversation." she said. "But you really don't have back-up, do you?"

Al-Kor shook his head, "No, I don't. I just wanted to scare those two, they're just kids basically. I know that they don't have much field experience, and there are placing their hope, well one of them, on a sin-ridden man."

"Hope is something people cling onto when there is nothing else." Raina said.

"No need to get all philosophical on me." Al-Kor stated.

"No, I mean that that's the only thing that they have right now. You have those two locked up with no help in sight and they're still clinging on the notion that there is a way to save them without handing over Skye, which there isn't."

"Exactly. So their hope is nothing. They're either dead with their blood on my hands or Skye is with me. And that whole team is riding on the notion that this man who betrayed them, lied to them, and tried to kill two of them will save the day, even if some of them aren't totally on that bandwagon. And in the end I will get what I want."

* * *

Coulson carefully opened the massive warehouse door, looking inside, "There's no one in here." he said. "Are you sure that this was the place you were held captive at?" he asked, looking at Ward.

"I'm sure it is." Ward responded. "He has to be hiding in there somewhere, we just have to look."

Coulson sighed and went slowly in, followed by May and Triplett, May still glaring at Ward. Skye stayed near Ward as they went in.

The warehouse was old, dusty, rusty, and about everything else that signaled that something was old and falling apart. In hindsight it was probably a really good place to hide but they had no time to be dawdling on that notion.

They walked slowly, looking all around the large, open area, seeing nothing in sight. But there were separate rooms around the perimeter of the larger rooms.

"Check those rooms." Coulson ordered. "He has to be in there somewhere, including Fitzsimmons. Check all of the rooms."

"I'll check over here." Ward stated, heading towards one of the rooms. He stopped when he noticed that Skye was following him.

"I thought that you didn't like being around me." he said.

Skye smiled slightly, "And I thought that you were trying to protect me and you left me behind."

"It's better for you to stay with Coulson and the others, it's a bigger group." Ward said, not knowing what to say to her. "Besides, if I get hurt, I don't want you to get hurt as well. You need to stay with them."

Skye looked towards Coulson, May, and Triplett, who where already starting to check the other doors, "And it looks like that they are busy, so I'll go with you."

Ward couldn't help but smile, "Don't say that didn't try to warn you." he said, going towards the room.

"You did."

Ward rolled his eyes and opened the door, freezing as soon as he opened it. Al-Kor stood on the other side, mouth in a massive, wild smile.

'_Damn it!' _Ward thought as Al-Kor stepped forward, looking towards Skye. '_I __**screwed **__up. I screwed up. There's no turning back now. I've sent everything and everyone straight to hell.'_

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Sorry for the wait, I've been busy at church the past few nights and haven't had time to write. I'll try to finish this by Sunday due to surgery on Monday, I promise. I'll just leave this on that cliffhanger note, cause I don't want to write anymore. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and please review (and favorite, I keep losing favorites on this for some reason)! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	21. Chapter 21 (Who's Your Daddy?)

**Chapter Twenty-One (Who's Your Daddy?)**

Ward reached out to grab Skye so he could pull her out of the way of Al-Kor's grasp. But he was too late, Al-Kor already had Skye by the arm and had pulled her into the room, slamming the door in Ward's face.

"Skye!" Ward screamed, trying to open the door. But it was locked, there was no way to get inside.

"Grant!"

Ward spun around to see Coulson, May, and Triplett running towards him, guns drawn. "He has her." he said. "I told her to go back to you before opening the door, but she didn't listen. I didn't know that he was on the other side. And it's locked."

Coulson brushed past him, "Sure you didn't know." he muttered.

"What?!" Ward exclaimed. "I didn't know! Are you saying that I set this whole thing up?"

Coulson turned around and glared at the man, "I don't know, are you?" he asked coldly. "Because it seems awfully strange that the first door you open, along with Skye, is hiding the deranged alien that claims to be her father! You tell me!"

"Coulson, I swear I didn't know that he was there!"  
Triplett looked to Coulson, "Sir, I think he may be telling the truth this time. I don't think that he would let Al-Kor, or whoever, get Skye."

"Whatever." Coulson grumbled, trying the door. "How about you try and find a way to get to Skye, and see if you can find Fitzsimmons while you are at it."

Ward shrugged in reply, trying to avoid another explosive response from Coulson. He went to try another door, in hurry, to see if it led to another way to Skye and to see if it possibly led to Fitzsimmons as well.

* * *

"Let me go!" Skye screamed, flailing her legs against Al-Kor's grasp. "Who do you think you are?! Let me go!" Skye, for some reason, decided to bite down on the alien's arm.

"Argh!" Al-Kor exclaimed in pain, dropping Skye. He glared at Skye, "Why the hell did you do that?" he asked, rubbing the raw bite mark on his arm. "Why would you bite of all things?"

Skye spat out the foul taste in your mouth, "'Cause you wouldn't let me go. I had to think of something that would make you let go of me. What else is there to do?"

"Well you could've thought of something else."

"And I think I go some of your blood in my mouth." Skye stated. "It tastes horrible."

Al-Kor raised an eyebrow, 'Oh really?" he asked. "Well it's the same blood that runs through your veins. So are you saying that your blood tastes horrible?"

Skye froze completely, "Wait, what? My blood?" she asked.

Al-Kor's eyes widened in a 'go-on' expression as realization hit her like a arrow.

"No, you're not. There's no way that you could be."

He smiled, "Surprise! I'm your daddy!"  
Both fear and disgust shone in Skye's face, "Okay? One, please don't say it like that, that's disturbing. And two, what the hell are you? There's no way that I'm related to something like you."

Al-Kor frowned, "Sadly, you turned out to be a Pink even though I'm mixed. So your heritage doesn't show."

"Pink? Mixed? Heritage?" Skye asked. "What the hell are you saying?" She started to back away slowly. "What are you?"

"Oh, you should be asking about yourself instead." Al-Kor placed a hand on his chest, "I'm, and you, are what you would call a Kree from the planet Hala. Normally blue-skinned creatures, even though there is a race of us that are 'pink-skinned' and look fairly similar to humans. I'm both. But it seems that you took to the pink-skinned nature of the Krees. That's why you are hard to distinguish from the ordinary human."

"Not buying it." Skye said, shaking her head. "How did you get here in the first place?"

"Me and your mother took refuge here on Earth in a Chinese province for various reasons that we are not to discuss. You were only a few days old and didn't have the chance to formally name you yet when SHIELD attacked us."

Coulson's story about the baby girl in the Chinese province where the entire village and SHIELD team were slaughtered trying to protect her came back to Skye. In which the girl was actually her. In which the girl's parents were the monsters that slaughtered the village whole.

"And you slaughtered them, and the whole village." Skye coldly stated.

"Does everyone know that story?" Al-Kor asked.

"I've known it for a while now."

"Well I was trying to keep them from you, but I had to result to drastic measures."

"You've could've done something else! Not label yourself as a deranged killer!"

"I was already a killer before coming to Earth!" Al-Kor snapped.

"What?"

"That's why I was taking refuge here on Earth. The Kree consuls on Hala sent me into exile because I was a 'cold-blooded killer that could no longer be on the sacred planet of Hala'." he growled in a mocking voice. "Yes, I am a killer, but I want what was taken from me." He looked hard at Skye.

"And I'll get what I want. And you'll come with me or there will be blood spilled upon this concrete today."

Fear set into Skye's mind. She had finally learned, truly, who her parents were. But she came to the fact that her father was a ruthless, cold-blooded, alien killer that would stop at nothing to get her back.

* * *

Ward came into a room that, surprisingly, was unlocked. "Hello?" he called out. "Skye, are you in here? Fitz? Simmons?"

"Ward? Is that you?"

The voice took Ward by surprise, "Simmons, is that you?" he asked.

"Yes, she's here. Why do you care?"

That was Fitz.

Ward walked towards the source of their voices to find them locked in the same cell that he had been locked in, "Because," he said. "I'm going to get you out of here." He found the key and unlocked the door, letting them out.

Simmons slightly smiled at Ward, but there was only a cold response from Fitz.

"Look, I don't care if you thank me or not." Ward said. "All I care is that you're ok."

"And why do you?" Fitz asked. "Why do you care after everything that you did?"

"Because I want to make up for everything." Ward stated simply. "Look, I made a huge mistake, and I understand that. I want to try and make up for it. And it's not helping that you're bickering with me while Skye is somewhere in this building in the hands of Al-Kor."

"He has her?" Simmons asked, alarm in her voice.

"Yes. And Fitz, if you don't mind, I'll like to get her back."

Fitz shut his mouth and followed Ward and Simmons.

Could they possibly get Skye back from Al-Kor's hands before he took off with her? Could they? Or would everything slip through their fingers and go to hell?

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Surprise! Another chapter today and it's pretty long too! Probably not that much longer left in the story, because I need to wrap this up before Monday. (Oh, and thanks for all the get well/ good luck wishes ,or whatever you call them, for my surgery! I'm sure that I'll be fine!) Not writing anymore note today. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	22. Chapter 22 (Not Gonna Die)

**Chapter Twenty-Two (Not Gonna Die)**

Ward came back into the main warehouse area with Fitzsimmons and met up with Coulson and the others.

"Fitz! Simmons!" Coulson exclaimed as they came up. "Are you two okay? Are you injured?"

Fitz gingerly touched his left elbow, right to the place that had recently healed up from being broken from the crash into the ocean in the medipod.

Ward just now noticed that the joint did look sort of strange at first sight.

"I think the bone broke again when Al-Kor kidnapped us." Fitz said. "But other than that, we're just a little bruised and cut up."

Coulson noticed the various blood-dried scratches on the two scientists' faces. "Once this is all said and done, we'll get some medical attention for you. Just don't go off and get injured even more."

"Uh, we won't." Simmons said.

Ward turned to Coulson, "Any sight of Skye?" he asked, still looking around the warehouse.

Coulson shook his head, "No, not at all. We can't find them anywhere. There must be some secret place in here that he has her in or something. We can't find them anywhere."

Triplett looked to Coulson with a slight smile, "Shall we make some noise to draw this alien dude out?" he asked. "Seems like the only option now."

May sighed, "That doesn't seem like the best idea to anger him. We need to take him down fast."

Coulson held up a hand, "But, we don't know where they are at. They could not even be in this place by now. They could be long gone. It couldn't hurt to make some noise at this point. Trip? What do you have?" he asked.

Triplett dug out a Noisemaker from his pocket, "I thought that this would eventually come in handy at some point."

Ward raised an eyebrow, "You had that in your pocket the whole entire time?" he asked.

"He's prepared." Simmons commented.

Coulson nodded to Triplett.

"You may want to cover your ears." Triplett said, winding up the Noisemaker and throwing it.

"_Hi-ho! The enemy approaches!"_

* * *

"What the hell is that noise?!" Al-Kor hissed, turning from Skye to look at the door.

An unknown voice exclaimed "_The enemy approaches!" _Followed by the rat-tat-tat of gunfire.

Al-Kor snarled, "What the hell is that?" he asked, turning to Skye. "What is that?"

Skye hid the faintest of smiles, she knew what it was. It was one of Trip's Howling Commando Noisemakers. They were trying to draw out Al-Kor. "Nope." she said, shaking her head. "I don't know what that could possibly be."

"You know something!" Al-Kor exclaimed, striking a hand against Skye's face, opening a massive cut. She flinched with the pain. "You have to know about that somehow."

"Nope." Skye said, grimacing with the cut's pain.

Al-Kor turned back to the door, "I'm going to see. You stay here and don't move a single inch." He opened the door, going out and closing it, locking the door behind him.

'_He's not the smartest being in the world.' _Skye thought to herself, holding her hand to her bleeding cheek. _'Hopefully this will end soon.'_

* * *

"You bastards!" Al-Kor roared, barging out into the main warehouse area towards the team. He pulled out a massive knife from a holster hanging off the side of his pants.

'_Where the hell did that come from?' _Ward thought to himself as they all whipped out their guns. He saw that Al-Kor was heading straight for him, "Go!" he shouted. "Go find Skye, I'll deal with him!"

"Ward, don't!" Coulson yelled.

"I've got it! Go!"

Coulson took one last look at Ward before he, Fitzsimmons, May, and Triplett went into the rooms to find Skye.

Al-Kor stopped in front of Ward, "You've made a mistake for them to leave you."

"Why is that?" Ward asked.

"'Cause there will be nobody to watch your blood splatter this old concrete. How sad." Al-Kor snarled.

"I'm not gonna die tonight." Ward said, tightening his grip on his ICER. But he thought for a moment. What good would an ICER do against a powerful alien being? Coulson didn't trust him with a real gun and this is what he gets. His possible death, just because he can't properly defend himself.

Ward quickly fired an ICER bullet into Al-Kor's forehead, but nothing happened.

He smiled, "Oh, that tickles."

'_Damn! No effect! No effect!_' Ward screamed in his head.

Ward had no time to dodge before Al-Kor lunged towards him, driving the massive knife into his leg just two inches below the knee, tearing apart muscle and nerves alike.

Ward fell to the ground in agony as Al-Kor pulled out the knife ever so slowly, sending blood flying into the air. Ward clutched his ruined leg as the blood pooled out, watching Al-Kor leaned over him with a hungry, wild gaze. He held he knife in his hand, prepared to drive it straight into Ward's beating heart.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. I'll just leave this on that cliffhangery note. About two to four chapters left in this, I've got to finish this up by Monday. I'm considering writing a sequel to this that takes place a few years later after this and SHIELD is rebuilt. How about that? Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and please review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	23. Chapter 23 (Battle Cry)

**Chapter Twenty-Three (Battle Cry)**

Skye froze as the door to the room she was locked in flew open. But she sighed at soon as she saw who it was.

"Skye!" Coulson exclaimed. "You're ok!"

Skye's eyes drifted to Fitzsimmons, "Leo! Jemma! You're ok too!" she exclaimed. "What happened to you?" she then asked.

"That Al-Kor dude took us as ransom to get you." Fitz said. "But Ward managed to get us out of there in time."

"Where is Ward?" Skye asked.

"He's dealing with Al-Kor as we speak." Triplett said.

Skye's eyes widened, "No! No!" she screamed. "He can't do that! Al-Kor's a serial killer! He told me himself! He said he was exiled from his planet because he was a cold-blooded killer! He'll kill Ward!"

Coulson's face froze, "We left him alone with him, with just an ICER." he said slowly.

"An ICER?!" Skye exclaimed. "What good will that do?! Do we even know if that thing works on aliens?!"

"No, we don't." Simmons said. "There's never been an alien to test it on. So, no."

Skye bolted towards the door, snatching Coulson's gun right out of his hand, "He's going to get killed!"

She ran out of the door.

"Skye, wait!" May yelled.

"Skye, don't do this!" Coulson yelled, running after her. "We don't want to lose you!"

* * *

"Skye, stop!"

Al-Kor turned his attention from the crippled Ward to see Skye barreling towards him at full speed along with a gun, Coulson and May behind her trying to stop her.

He dodged the first bullet that Skye shot, mostly because it was just bad aim. The second one grazed his shoulder. He shot forward and grabbed the gun right out of Skye's hand and threw it to the ground, crushing it underneath the force of his massive boot.

He then grabbed Skye by the arm and lifted her above his head, "Did you really think that a little bullet would stop me?" he hissed. "Did you?"

"Skye!" Coulson yelled, coming forward.

"Don't come any closer!" Al-Kor roared. "Or both of these idiots kick the bucket." He gestured towards Skye and Ward.

Coulson looked to May, Fitzsimmons, and Triplett, not knowing what to do. He didn't want anybody to be killed, but he wanted to help.

Ward still laid on the ground, clutching his ruined, bleeding leg. He was pretty sure that the knife had torn just about everything in that spot. The muscles, the nerves, the bones, everything. There was no way that he was going to be able to stand on it anytime soon.

"You're at a stalemate." Al-Kor teased. "They can't help you, or you two will be brutally killed. He can't help you because he has a useless leg that he may never be able to use again. You better come with me. There's no other choice than that."

Skye gritted her teeth, "I'm not coming with you." she spat. "Not with a monster like you."

"Like me?" he asked. "Don't you mean like you? You're of my blood. To call my kind monsters is calling yourself a monster."

Skye frowned, "I wasn't calling the Kree monsters. You're the monster. You're the one that the Kree banished, so they're probably peaceful aliens normally. But I'm guessing that, I don't know. But I'm not the monster, you are."

Skye swung her foot straight into Al-Kor's crotch, assuming that he had similar parts to a human male. He cried out in pain, dropping Skye in the process. Skye ran over to Ward's side, "Yep, I bet that hurt. Didn't it?"

"You ass!" Al-Kor roared through the sharp pain. He ran towards Skye, sending a kick into her stomach that sent her sliding across the concrete floor.

"Skye!" Ward yelled.

"Skye!" Coulson yelled as well.

Al-Kor turned to face Coulson, May, Fitzsimmons, and Triplett, "And stay where you are!" he roared. "Or I'll kill you all!"

Ward looked back to Skye, who was now splayed out on the concrete covered in massive scrapes and most likely unconscious. There was a small puddle of blood on the floor, Skye must've threw up blood after the kick. He wanted to go over there and help, but he couldn't. He couldn't walk, there was no way with only one functioning leg. And it would take way too long. His eyes drifted to Al-Kor's knife lying near him; Al-Kor had dropped it earlier.

Ward slowly crawled over to it and picked it up in shaky hands.

"Now, where was I?" Al-Kor asked. He smiled, "Oh, that's right I-" He was cut off by a horrible pain in his stomach and the warm feeling of blood pooling out. He looked down to see his own knife sticking out of his stomach and Ward's hand falling from it. "You, you, bastards…" he faltered and fell over onto his stomach, driving the knife even further into his stomach.

"Simmons! Get Skye! Now!" Coulson roared. Fitzsimmons ran as fast as they could over to the unconscious Skye.

"She's alive!" Simmons yelled. "But she's unconscious and needs medical attention now!"

Coulson's eyes drifted back to Al-Kor, but there was no Al-Kor, just blood and Ward. He ran over. "Where did the bastard go?!" he asked Ward.

Ward shook his head weakly in response, "He just disappeared into thin-air, but wherever he is he won't last long with a knife in his stomach."

Coulson smiled and held out a hand to help Ward up, "Come on." He said. "Let's get that leg looked at shouldn't we?" he asked.

And with that, Triplett got Skye in his arms and Coulson and Fitz (surprisingly) acted as crutches for Ward so they could head back to the Bus and from there the Playground's hospital.

Al-Kor may be gone and Fitzsimmons and Skye may have been rescued, but there was a long way ahead of them. A very long road.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Only two chapters left! Sorry, not very good with final confrontation scenes. But Al-Kor seems to be gone. But Ward, Skye, and Fitz (his arm) all need medical attention. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and please review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	24. Chapter 24 (Learn From the Night)

**Chapter Twenty-Four (Learn From the Night)**

(Four Days Later in the Medical Bay of the Playground.)

Ward sat up in his hospital bed staring at the TV across from him that was playing the news from the area. It was nothing but car break-ins, a murder, and several fatal wrecks. The news was nothing but pain, like always. But Ward continued to watch until something got his attention.

"Hey Tin Man."

Ward look to see Skye walking into the room with her IV thing rolling next to her. He smiled, "I heard that you were out of bed, but not like this."

She took a quick glace at the door, "Shh! They don't know I'm here. I'm supposed to be in my room."

Ward rolled his eyes, "You know that you probably need to be in your room, right?" he asked.

"I know." Skye replied taking a seat in the chair near Ward's bed. "But I wanted to see you, considering that you haven't been to see me in the past four days."

"One, we just got here four days ago. Two, you woke up for days ago and wasn't up and walking until yesterday and you're still receiving nutrients and stuff. Three, I can't really get up to go see you." Ward said, turning the TV off.

"Oh, how's your leg?" Skye asked. "I've been asking about it, but Coulson didn't want to say anything about it for some reason. Why's that? Is it ok?"

Ward half-smiled, "Well it's fine considering that half of it is gone."

The color drained from Skye's face, "Oh no, Grant, they didn't?" she asked.

He nodded slightly and removed the cover from his left leg to reveal that his leg was gone from just an inch below the knee. "The doctors said that there was no saving it. The knife destroyed too many irreparable nerves. If it wasn't amputated it would've just been dead weight because that half wouldn't have worked." he explained.

Skye frowned, "What are they going to do about it?" she asked.

Ward sighed and covered back up his leg, "Prosthetic, I guess. They say that I would probably be completely fine with it, kind of like my old leg."

Skye smiled, "I guess I really can call you Robot now, right?"

"That doesn't give you the right to do that." Ward said. "I'm not a robot, at all."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"I found her!"

Ward and Skye looked to the door to see Fitz, with a blue cast encasing his elbow, standing in the doorway.

Coulson appeared next with a scowl on his face, "Skye. Your room. Now."

Skye rolled her eyes and got up, "Time for me to go back I guess." she laughed.

"You better go. There's no telling what Coulson will do."

"You've got that right!" Coulson exclaimed as he led Skye back down the hallway.

Ward started to grab the TV remote again, but stopped as he saw Fitz coming inside of his room.

Fitz came and stood by Ward's bed, "Y'know I still don't fully like you." he said, trying his best to cross his arms with his full arm cast.

Ward raised an eyebrow, "You don't have to." he said. "Nobody has to. I was just doing what I thought would be the right thing to do. Even if it cost me my leg, got your arm broken, and got Skye unconscious for a while. Nobody has to like me at all, I don't care."

"Thanks." Fitz suddenly said.

Ward blinked, "Thanks for what?" he asked.

"Saving our asses. If you hadn't of shown up, we would probably be dead and gone by now." Fitz explained. "Al-Kor would've probably tortured us and we would be dead while he took Skye to who knows where. I'm just saying thanks for that."

Ward smiled.

Fitz turned back towards the door and started walking out, "But that doesn't mean that I like you! I still don't! And I will probably never will. You're still Hydra to me!" And Fitz was gone.

Ward shook his head at the young engineer. Was Fitz starting to trust him again and he was just messing with him? Or did he still despise him, even though he was thankful that he had helped to save them? Perhaps Fitz's mental condition was just messing with the man's brain at the moment.

But even in the end, they had all learned from the night. They had learned from the darkness. Ward put his past behind him to save the ones that once cared for him. Skye put her heritage behind her and pretty much stomped on it. Everyone had learned something.

But was Al-Kor gone for good? He had to be long dead from the wicked knife wound that Ward had left him. But where did he go? He had just disappeared into thin air. Perhaps that was something to think about another day, there were more things to think about at the moment.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Marvel does. One chapter left! I will get it up either later tonight or tomorrow. I tried to make this chapter nice and sweet. More surprises are to come in the last chapter, even maybe some special guests in the end. TEMPING ISNT IT? Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and PLEASE DONT BE AFRAID TO REVIEW. Reviews are what help keep my stories going! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	25. Chapter 25 (In the End)

**Chapter Twenty-Five (In the End)**

(About Two Days Later)

Ward hobbled down the Playground's hallway towards the common room on crutches. They hadn't fitted his leg with a prosthetic yet, so he was still on crutches. He had been in a normal room that Coulson had assigned him since yesterday.

But just an hour ago Coulson had told him to meet him and the rest of the team in the common room of the secret base for reasons unknown. Ward had asked why but Coulson didn't reply, he just had said to meet the rest of the team there.

A few minutes later, he came into the room to see the rest of the team in there waiting for him.

"And there's Patchy the Pirate." Skye said, smiling.

Ward shook his head as he sat down, placing his crutches aside, "I told you not to call me that." he said. "No names that involve pirates or cyborgs. Nothing."

"Still going to get you a pegleg." Skye stated. "Even Fitz has agreed to help out with that."

Fitz smiled and shook his head in reply.

"I swear, one of these days." Ward grumbled.

Coulson cleared his throat, "Now to why I wanted you here."

Ward frowned, "You're sending me back to jail, aren't you?" he asked.

"No, we're not doing that." Coulson said. "Actually the opposite really."

Ward raised an eyebrow, "Wait, what are you saying?" he asked.

"I'm saying that you can stay here with us." Coulson replied.

"Really?"

"Yes. After thinking a lot about this and talking with the rest of the team, despite a little disagreement, we've decided that you can stay here. But under some conditions."

Ward sighed, "What are the conditions?"

"One, your first major goof-up means you're back to jail. Two, you're on close surveillance. Three, you can't leave this facility unless you're with someone really trustful."

Ward looked at Skye with a raised eyebrow. Coulson was most likely meaning don't leave with just Skye.

"And four." Coulson walked over and locked something onto Ward's wrist that looked awfully familiar.

"You're tagging me?" Ward asked. "With Skye's bracelet?"

"Not hers exactly." Fitz said. "It has some differences. This one does track you and makes sure that you're not sending secret messages to Hydra or anything like that. And it's black."

Ward rolled his eyes.

Coulson smiled, "Welcome back, conditionally. Now, if this is over I have a big job to do."

"Job? What job?" Ward asked.

Triplett laughed, "He didn't tell you?" he asked.

"No."

"You might want to tell him, Coulson." May said.

"Coulson, what's going on? What did I miss?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I'm SHIELD's new director." Coulson said with a slight smile.

Ward's mouth dropped open, "Wait, what? Since when? There's no SHIELD. What?"

"Fury wants me to rebuild SHIELD from the ground." Coulson went out the room, but you could hear him still mumbling to himself. "Should I get the Avengers to help? I haven't seen them in a long while."

"What just happened?" Ward asked.

"Coulson." Simmons said. "Coulson happened."

"Well ok then." Ward got up from the chair, steadying himself on his one leg. May came over and handed him his crutches.

"I'm still watching you." she said and walked off.

Skye came over, "Shall we watch a movie?" she asked. "Doesn't matter what it is."

"I guess it won't hurt, I can't do much of anything else right now." Ward replied, following Skye to the couch in front of the massive flat screen.

Simmons stood up, "Come on Fitz, let's go check your cast." she said.

"But I want to watch this movie." Fitz pouted, trying to cross his arms in reply.

"Now, Fitz." Simmons stated, grabbing him by the arm and practically drug him out of the room.

Fitz's voice echoed into the room, "But you've already checked it twice today!"

Ward looked at Skye and only shook his head in response. Hopefully everything would return to normal, eventually.

* * *

(Sometime Later Elsewhere.)

"Mr. Stark, a Maria Hill is here to see you."

"Well, JARVIS, open the door and let her in even though I don't want to see her right now."

"Alright, sir, this does seem rather important."

Tony Stark turned from his bar to look at the elevator doors as soon as they opened to reveal Maria Hill.

She walked in, holding a folder, "Stark."

"Hill." Tony replied. "What brings you here?" he asked.

"My resignation from Stark Industries." Hill replied.

"Then why bring it to me?" Tony asked.

"I'm needed elsewhere."

"Tony, who's here?"

Hill and Tony turned to see Bruce Banner walk into the massive common room.

"Banner." Hill stated.

"Oh, Hill, hi." Bruce replied. "What brings you here?"

Hill then handed Tony the folder, "This. It seems that somebody now really important wants you. That's hard to believe."

Tony rolled his eyes and opened the folder, revealing a letter.

It read as followed,

'_Dear Mr. Stark, I can't believe I am writing to you to ask for your cooperation in something this big, but I am. I am asking you, and the other Avengers, to help me in rebuilding SHIELD…'_

Tony looked up, "Why is Fury writing a letter?" he asked. "That doesn't seem like him."

"Keep reading, you'll see." Hill stated.

'_You can either accept or decline this offer, but I feel that if all of the Avengers, especially you, are in this, SHIELD can be rebuilt to its former glory in no time. I already have Hill in this, she's probably the one that handed you this letter, and I'm searching the country for former loyal SHIELD agents that are willing to come back. But there are it's limits, do not call me 'Agent' because that is not my name, but you can call me Director since that's my official title now and I will officially have priority over you. I hope that you can help with this effort. Sincerely Director Phillip Coulson.'_

Tony looked up from the letter, face frozen, "Wait, _C-Coulson_? Hill, this has to be a joke. This says this is from 'Director Phillip Coulson'. Coulson's dead."

Bruce blinked, "Hill, I'm sorry, but Tony is right. Loki killed Coulson during the Helicarrier attack over a year ago. He's dead."

Hill smiled, "Don't believe everything that Fury tells you."

"So, Coulson is alive?" Tony asked. "Coulson is alive?"

"Yes, he's now just dealing with the after effects of the whole Hydra situation, but he's alive."

"And you're telling us that he's Director?" Bruce asked.

"Yes. And believe it or not, he wants all of the Avengers help on this." Hill replied.

Tony turned to Bruce, "What do you say Bruce? Shall we pay our old friend Agent a visit for old time's sake?"

* * *

**_END_**

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't own AoS, Stark, or Banner, Marvel does. End of this story! Hoped you enjoyed! Threw that last past in for a little fun and for a lead in to the sequel I'm thinking of writing called 'From the Ashes of Destruction' eventually. It's basically a few years in the future after this and SHIELD is back up and the Avengers are involved, but Hydra comes back to haunt them. Please respond if you would like to see this sequel! But it will be a while, later this week to next week since I'm going on brief hiatus due to review this story! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.


	26. Chapter 26 (NEW STORY!)

**CHAPTER ONE OF THE SEQUEL TO THIS STORY 'FROM THE ASHES OF DESTRUCTION' IS UP NOW! PLEASE READ IT!**


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